


Of Brooms and Broommakers

by bangringyring



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gryffindor Scorpius Malfoy, M/M, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-07 23:21:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13445571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangringyring/pseuds/bangringyring
Summary: After landing on the England National Quidditch team, Scorpius Malfoy goes in search of a broom befitting his status and standards. James Potter just so happens to be a custom broommaker. When things keep going wrong, the pair has to see each other a lot more than they'd like in search of answers.





	Of Brooms and Broommakers

**Author's Note:**

> Super thanks to my bestie for helping me out with edits for this.

“James Potter.”

The named man cringed. That was indeed his name, and he had quite a bit of pride in it, but it was the person saying it that got him.

“Scorpius,” he replied, smiling as best he could. For some reason, Scorpius Malfoy was the only person in the world that James had ever met that could make him squirm. It was something Scorpius took great pleasure in, and something that James could not explain.

The two had never had very many interactions outside of Hogwarts, but it was the way Scorpius stared at him when they spoke that made him utterly uncomfortable. It was as though all of James’ private thoughts and feelings weren’t his own anymore, and Scorpius knew everything that he was thinking. It was rather embarrassing considering some of the things James thought about. They had met when he was thirteen, though really the squirming hadn’t started until he was fourteen or so.

“I’ve come for a broom,” Scorpius said simply.

“I know,” James said, and for a moment he was granted a reprieve from the staring when Scorpius rolled his eyes.

“So where is it?”

“Well,” James hesitated. The fact of the matter was that the broom wasn’t quite finished. It was almost done, very close to almost done, just a few things here and there.

“You’re not done?” Scorpius asked in what sounded like disbelief. James squirmed.

“It takes a bit and I’ve had some trouble with the wood,” James said finally, sounding quite like he’d been defeated. He knew this meant another visit to the shop, another few minutes of gray eyes penetrating his soul.

“Trouble with the wood?” Scorpius asked, a smirk making its way across his face. James sighed.

“You know, of all the Quidditch players I get in here, you, Scorpius Malfoy, are the first, the _very first_ , to have made some insinuation when I mentioned wood problems,” James replied, the sarcasm so thick Scorpius was surprised he didn’t choke on it.

“Well, once you get your wood sorted, I should hope my broom’s the first thing you attend to,” Scorpius said, shrugging. “After you clean up, of course.”

James picked a point just over Scorpius’ shoulder and stared at it. “Sure thing,” he said, nodding. Scorpius knew his fun was over then, if James wasn’t looking him in the eye then he wasn’t really paying attention to him anymore and that was something Scorpius was just not interested in.

“Next week,” Scorpius said as he turned and left the shop.

As soon as the door closed James let out the breath he had been holding, he’d be sending the broom in the post.

* * *

It was two days later that owls dropped the broom off at Scorpius’ home. The only thing attached was the remaining balance of his invoice that he had to submit to the team.

“The post?” he asked, with something akin to disgust but not quite there yet. There was no one around to answer him.

* * *

Scorpius took a week to find something wrong with the broom and bring it back to James’ shop in Hogsmeade.

“This broom is shit,” he announced, ignoring the Hogwarts students that were milling around. They looked at him wide eyed and James took a breath to brace himself.

“What exactly is your problem, Scorpius?” James asked, emphasizing that the problem was not with his broom after all.

“It doesn’t work well,” Scorpius replied as he gingerly placed the broom on the counter. In all honesty it was one of the best brooms he’d ridden, and he had known that would be the case when he first commissioned James. But he had missed out on picking it up, so here he was to get this small life pleasure of watching James Potter become uncomfortable.

“You’re treating it awful nicely for a shit broom,” James said as he pulled the broom closer. Scorpius narrowed his eyes to glare at James, but really couldn’t think of something to say to that. He watched as James ran his hands over the broom, feeling and sensing for any imperfections in its magic or physicality.

“You made it slower,” James said finally, staring Scorpius in the eye. He had known that Scorpius got enjoyment out of his discomfort, but to deliberately sabotage his broom didn’t really seem like something someone would do just to torment him. Even Al wouldn’t go that far out of his way.

“I did not,” Scorpius said hotly. “ _You_ didn’t make it fast enough.”

James was hyper aware of the students around them, and wished that Scorpius had picked a better day for whatever this was.

“Alright, I didn’t make it fast enough, no one put a weak and poor slowing charm on it after I sent it to you,” James said, grabbing the broom and bringing it back to the workshop. He started when he realized Scorpius had followed him.

“I didn’t charm it,” Scorpius repeated as James set it on the work table. Though if he _had_ been the one to charm it, the slowing charm would have been the best James had ever seen, surely.

“Okay,” James said, as though he actually believed him. Scorpius watched as James pulled his wand out and reversed whatever charm it was that was put on his broom. He then watched as James began to fix the twigs on the tail. He was interested, of course, but he was also sort of sad that James wasn’t staring at him and squirming uncomfortably.

“Aren’t you worried that they’re going to steal something while you’re back here?” Scorpius asked, wandering over to the door to the shop to look at the students hanging around.

James snorted. “Ah yes, because I’d go poor if they stole all the broom polish and Quidditch magazines,” he said. Scorpius rolled his eyes, something he seemed to do a lot of in James’ presence. “Honestly though, I’m more worried that you’re messing around with your broom like this. It’s dangerous, you know.”

“I didn’t _do_ anything to it,” Scorpius insisted again, and James was reminded of the boy Scorpius had been in school. Arrogant, whiny, and a prankster to rival even Lily, though he couldn’t get out of trouble quite like her.

“Well someone did,” James said, looking up at Scorpius. It delighted him that Scorpius started to squirm.

“I feel like I’m back in the Headmaster’s office,” Scorpius said finally, frowning at James. “I don’t know who would do that to my broom and it wasn’t me.”

“Well you’re all set now,” James said, putting his clippers down and looking over the broom.

“That’s it? A wave of your wand and some clipped twigs and it’s going to be the best broom I’ve ever flown?” Scorpius sounded skeptical.

“If you didn’t want a broom from me there’s at least three other custom broommakers in Europe and the National team has a broom sponsor they’d prefer you used,” James said, echoing the conversation they’d had when Scorpius first started the process with him. Scorpius stared at him and James began to fidget. Satisfied, Scorpius took his broom and left the workshop.

“You know, I think those other broommakers might be a little bit nicer than you and that’s worth it to me,” he said, turning to look at James, who had followed him out.

“See them put up with your bullshit like I do,” James said and Scorpius glared at him. James was feeling very much like he had fallen back in time and was seventeen again. Scorpius always made him feel the boy, but this was even more, Scorpius himself was starting to act like the child he used to be.

  
“Watch your mouth, Potter, there’s children,” Scorpius said after a pause.

James laughed. “Right, have a good day, Scorpius,” he said, shaking his head. Scorpius turned and left before James could see him smiling. He had always liked hearing James laugh.

* * *

“Scorpius is flying quite well on that broom, isn’t he?” Lily asked as she sat in the stands next to James. She handed him the flask that she’d hidden in her coat. James took it from her and took a drink.

“He’s alright, I guess,” James said, shrugging as he handed her flask back. “Why are we here?”

“Al cancelled last minute, something about work or Holly or something. I don’t know, I wasn’t listening,” Lily replied, taking a swig then tucking the flask back in her coat. “Also he’s doing much better than alright, and has been since he started with England. Are you still on about him being a twat?”

“Which time?” James asked, and Lily laughed. “No, I just think that today’s not the best I’ve seen him fly, the broom’s pulling to the left again.” It had been something James had had to fix when he and Scorpius had done trials with the broom. They had fixed it, too. James had a feeling that the broom had been charmed again, though for Scorpius to do it during a game was too ridiculous for him to believe. And it wasn’t like he knew James would be there to see it, so the show was a bit much to discredit his brooms.

“You should look at the other players, too, Jay,” Lily said as she nudged him with her elbow.

“He’s the only one flying one of my brooms,” James said, determined not to let Lily get a rise out of him. She was always trying to get more information from him about him and Scorpius, but there really was nothing to tell. Just because they’d been in the same house at school really didn’t mean anything, he had been two years older and didn’t hang out with Scorpius or anything like that.

“You’re not even watching the match, this is so boring. At least Al had something to say about what was going on,” Lily pouted. “Also he’s much funnier than you.”

“But at least with me you can talk about which England flyer is the cutest,” James said, grinning at her. Lily grinned back.

“It’s definitely not Scorpius, you made the wrong choice with him being the one you gave a broom to,” she said, looking out on the field. “Dustin, he’s obviously the cutest and really the best player on the team. He would never buy one of your shit brooms.”

“My brooms are perfectly fine,” James said, glaring at her. “Also you sound just like Scorpius, you two would make such a perfect couple.”

“Gross,” Lily said, making a truly horrible face.

“It’s no wonder you’re still single,” James said. “You really are the ugliest of the three of us.” Lily punched him in the arm as hard as she could, which truly was quite hard. James rubbed the spot, knowing that it would end up bruised. “You know, Al would have laughed at that.”

“Oh, that’s really nice, James. Make fun of your sister while she’s not there to defend herself. Really chivalrous and all that, such good guys, those Potter boys,” Lily said, crossing her arms and glaring at the game before them. James could barely stifle his laughter, and Lily broke down and started laughing herself. “You’re still single, too.”

“Happily so,” James said, nodding. In all honesty, he had been single longer than Lily had. Though she was just not the type for long term relationships.

“Uh huh,” she said, rolling her eyes. “So happy holed up in that shop giving yourself asthma with all those wood shavings.”

“Hogsmeade visits are still happening so I’m not alone,” James retorted. He vaguely wondered why he’d agreed to come to this game with Lily when every time they were together they bickered like children. It seemed to be a recurring theme with people in his life.

“Oh yeah, hanging out with thirteen year olds who think they’re cool. Reliving your glory days, huh Jamie,” she taunted. She took another drink from the flask and handed it to him again.

James took a drink and shrugged. “They love me,” he said cheerfully.

Had the two bickered any longer, they would have missed the game ending with England getting the Snitch. Lily jumped up and yelled with the rest of them while James only stood to keep watching Scorpius on his broom. Even with the pulling, he'd managed to win the game.

“Well that was fun,” Lily said as the crowd started to file out of the stands. “And we won! Even with Scorpius on your shitty broom. We should go congratulate him.”

“I’d rather choke on sawdust,” James replied. “Besides, I’m sure he’ll be in to see me soon for that broom. He’s charming it himself, you know. Put a slowing charm on it the week I sent it to him.”

“What if he just wants to see your pretty face, you know, you being the least ugly of the three of us and all,” Lily said, smiling sweetly.

“Right, well then he can see it when he comes in complaining about his broom tomorrow,” James said. Lily rolled her eyes and followed her brother out.

“Drinks in Hogsmeade?” she asked as they finally made their way out of the crowd.

“Next time, I’ve got some work to finish up at the shop,” James said, thinking about what a mess he’d left the workshop the night before.

“Alright, alright,” Lily said, though she seemed a little disappointed. James wrapped her in a hug and kissed the top of her head.

“Dinner at Gran’s Friday, though,” he said into her hair. Lily had really been missing out on the family time ever since she graduated, and it always made James feel bad when he had to turn her down. It was harder to get the whole family together now that everyone was grown and doing their own thing.Though really, Al was the worst of them and should feel the most bad, working all the time and ignoring his loved ones.

“Right, Friday. Okay, stop being so sappy,” she said, disentangling herself from his arms. “If you need me to give Mr. Malfoy a talking to, I will. He should never forget the time a certain redheaded Potter made his History of Magic essay burst into flames and took out his Charms homework as well.”

“I think I can handle it, Lils, but thank you, you don’t have to set anything on fire. Now go home and leave Dustin alone,” he said. She stuck her tongue out at him and disapparated without another word.

* * *

James wasn’t wrong when he said that Scorpius would be there in his shop, though he was a bit off on the day.

“It’s shit,” Scorpius said again as he entered the shop. James was just thankful that there weren’t any students around this time.

“I saw it pulling to the left your last game,” James said, nodding and looking at the broom. It looked perfectly fine, though he knew there was something wrong with it.

“I didn’t do anything to it,” Scorpius insisted, feeling that James was being accusatory.

“I never said you did, Scorpius,” James replied, running his hands over the broom again. He may have spoken too soon, however, because the spell was very obvious in the broom’s magic signature. “Someone did, though.”

He brought the broom back to the shop and was less startled when Scorpius followed him this time.

“You were at the game?” Scorpius asked, though his tone made James suspicious.

“Albus bailed on Lily last minute, I was a stand in,” he replied. “You played well enough on it.”

The compliment caught Scorpius off guard, though he smiled happily. “A good player can outmaneuver a shit broom any day,” he said as he watched James wave his wand over the broom.

“Right,” James said, nodding. “Well you’re done. Just stop charming it and we can stop meeting like this.”

Scorpius sighed and opened his mouth to tell James, once more, that he was not the one who charmed his broom when there was a shout from the front of the store.

“Oi, Jay, let’s go,” the voice shouted. “We were supposed to meet at your house, remember, not here.”

Al was using his annoyed voice and James rolled his eyes. “Yeah, a minute,” James called back.

“You know Gran’s going to be upset you’re getting sawdust all over the house,” Al said making his way to the workshop. “Oh, Scorpius, sorry. Didn’t know you were here.”

“It’s fine,” Scorpius said. “How are you, Al?”

“Things are good, work’s a mess, but when is it not?” Al said. Scorpius laughed the appropriate amount and James decided it would be nice to release him from his Potter prison.

“Well, you’re good for now, Scorpius,” James said before Al could ask how Scorpius had been.

“Thanks, James,” Scorpius said, smiling politely at him. James noticed that he tried to stare a bit less when others were around, though James didn’t want to make a habit of Al being around. Little brothers could be quite annoying when the only thing they could talk about was work and their girlfriend.

“Well we need to be going, but you’re welcome to stay and clear me out of broom polish and Quidditch magazines if you’d like. Just lock up when you leave,” James said, grinning at Scorpius.

Scorpius rolled his eyes in response. “Enjoy your evening,” he said, grabbing his broom and heading out. “It was good to see you, Al.”

“Yeah, you too, Scorpius. We should get drinks sometime, catch up. Send me an owl,” Al said. The two had not been particularly close in school, but they’d gotten on okay and had been Potions partners a few times through the years.

“Will do. Thanks, James,” Scorpius said, and with that he left the shop.

“How’s that been going?” Al asked as soon as Scorpius was gone for sure.

“Fine,” James said. “As well as can be expected when he keeps sabotaging the broom.”

“Sabotaging?” Al asked, following James out of the workshop and into the front. James shook the sawdust out of his hair and brushed off his clothes.

“Slowing charm last time, this time someone charmed it to pull to the left. He swears it’s not him, but,” James shrugged, “I don’t know who else would.”

“Weird, and I’m sorry Scorpius Malfoy is finding ways to bother you now, six years out, but at least you’re getting business?” Al said, trying to find a bright side.

“Yeah, but if the broom looks like shit in the games then the business isn’t great,” James said. “Oh well, off to Gran’s with us. She’ll be upset we’re late.”

“I was on time,” Al said haughtily. “You were late.”

* * *

It was well after dinner at Gran’s, and James was well and drunk. The Potter children and their cousins had gone out to a pub or six after dinner. Being drunk made James contemplative, and it made him think about Scorpius and why he was damaging his broom.

It had started a few months ago, really. Scorpius had come to him out of the blue asking for a custom broom. “He’s on the National team for Merlin’s sake,” James muttered aloud. He was very much alone in his house, but he often talked to himself when drunk. And in general.

James had been quite skeptical about the whole arrangement, especially because he knew the sponsorship packages broom companies gave to national teams. But he had gone along with it anyway, all because Scorpius was making him squirmy and because he’d said he’d cleared it with the team. Well he had, but it didn’t really matter. James wasn’t sure what made him so weird around Scorpius, but it was somehow worse now that he was an adult.

That was a lie.

Well, it _was_ worse now that they were adults, but James knew why Scorpius made him act so strangely. He didn’t really like to think about it, though. So, again, he put it out of his mind and thought about the stupid broom. It had taken twice as long to make as his other customers, and it was twice as difficult to work with Scorpius. Feeling uncomfortable made James mistake-prone, but at least Scorpius was only there every so often to test it out. Most of the time things were fine, but the broom took forever because Scorpius had such strict standards he wanted the broom to fill.

By the time it was finally done, James was glad to just ship it off in the post. That had been a mistake. Normally he had customers try the broom out right in front of him and if there was anything wrong with it they fixed it then. James had been tired of seeing Scorpius so he mailed it. And then it had problems. “They’re not my fault, though,” James yelped, frowning at the ceiling.

James had no idea why the broom was being charmed, though he felt as though it had to do with Scorpius randomly showing up in his shop and requesting, no, demanding, a broom from him. It wasn’t random at all, James concluded. Though there wasn’t anything he could do about it, really. He had made the broom and he had to fix it, it was only right. But if someone, Scorpius, could stop messing with it, everything would be so much better.

“Why wouldn’t he want to fly right anyway?” James asked the back of the sofa he was currently pressing his face into. “Stupid Malfoy and his stupid shit broom.”

* * *

James woke up the next day with a very intense headache. He felt like there was a drum pounding inside his head. Then he realized that someone was actually pounding on his door.

“Merlin,” he said, his voice scratchy. He made his way to the door and opened it and instantly regretted it.

“It’s almost one,” Scorpius said hotly. “I’ve been pounding for at least ten minutes.”

“I’m drunk,” James said without thinking. His ears turned red. “Well, maybe not still.” Scorpius looked at him in disgust.

“I can smell,” Scorpius said. “My broom bucked me, I broke my arm at practice.” James groaned and Scorpius sighed. “Exactly what I wanted to hear, Potter. Perfect addition to the conversation, thank you.”

“I need a shower,” James said after a silence that stretched for too long.

“I told you I could smell you,” Scorpius replied. “I’ll wait.” James didn’t move. He did not want Scorpius in his home. There was nothing wrong with his home, it was modest and clean and well furnished, but he just felt uncomfortable with Scorpius there.

“How do you know where I live?” James asked suddenly, breaking a silence that had again gone on a bit long.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and pushed past James. “Get in the shower or I’m pressing charges against you and your shoddy broom. I don’t have all day, you know.”

“How do you know where I live?” James asked again, sounding even more concerned than the first time. Scorpius had sat on his couch, leaning his broom against the wall, and James couldn’t help but feel that he was too at home there.

“James, really, you wouldn’t feel better knowing how I know. You _would_ feel better after a shower and some clean clothes, though,” Scorpius said, looking at him. James stared back, so very concerned that he did not squirm once. Scorpius didn’t like that, but there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment.

“I’ll just fix the broom and you can go,” James said after staring at Scorpius for an uncomfortably long time.

“You’re drunk, you said yourself. I can’t imagine you’ll be better drunk than sober at broommaking,” Scorpius said.

“I was drunk last night,” James said, very matter-of-fact. “Today I am hungover. And tired. And I would like for you to leave my home.”

Scorpius looked at James, and the longer he looked, the more uncomfortable James felt. He ran his hand through his hair.

“I’m going to be sick,” James said after a moment, and excused himself to the bathroom. Scorpius got up and went to the kitchen, searching for a glass to fill with water. He found one and went to the door of the bathroom.

“James?” Scorpius asked. “I have water.” James opened the door and looked at him looking quite worse for wear. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” James replied, taking the water when Scorpius held it out for him. He rinsed and spit into the sink. “Can we do this later?” His voice was hoarse from both the hangover and being sick.

“I’d really like to get it over with now. Also I’m supposed to see my mother,” Scorpius said. James grinned and Scorpius knew he was about to say something rude so he cut him off. “But I can come back tonight.”

“Not here,” James said immediately. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

“Fine, at your shop. Which, you know, should be open. It _is_ Saturday, and you can’t be making money if you’re not there. I can’t imagine you make money at all, really. Though I suppose you don’t need it, being a Potter and all,” Scorpius said, shrugging.

“You’re rambling,” James said. “And the shop is doing fine, thanks for worrying.”

“Tonight then, say six,” Scorpius said.

“Okay, sure,” James said, nodding. He took another drink of water. “Now get out, Malfoy.”

Scorpius left without another word, but he left his broom in the living room. James finally took his shower and felt quite a bit better. He was going to kill whoever told Scorpius where he lived, though.

* * *

Six o’clock rolled around and Scorpius was right on time. “How’s Mrs. Malfoy today?” James asked, unable to help himself from bringing up what had been a sore spot for Scorpius back when their stomping grounds included the Gryffindor common room.

“My mother is fine, how’s my broom?” Scorpius said, refusing to become embarrassed by James.

James frowned. “Someone’s trying to hurt you,” he said. “Or you don’t know how to cast a good flying charm. But you keep insisting it’s not you, so I guess it’s not.”

“It’s not me, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you to get it through your thick skull,” Scorpius said, and James knew he was actually mad then.

“Then someone is seriously trying to hurt you, or they’re very bad pranksters,” James said. Scorpius didn’t like when James acted like an adult, or as serious as he was then. It was unsettling.

“How? The broom is either with me or locked up,” Scorpius said, looking at it.

“I don’t know,” James replied. “Maybe you should take it home with you instead of leaving it. At least you’ll be safer that way.”

“Yeah,” Scorpius said, frowning at the broom. “Thanks, I’ll take it with me now.”

“For your sake I hope you don’t have to come back until you need a new broom,” James said. Scorpius gave James a half smile and nodded.

“Thanks, James.”

* * *

It was quite some time before Scorpius came across James’ mind again. Lily had more tickets and Al, again, had something better to do.

“Why is Al always your go to? He doesn’t even like England,” James said as they sat. He pulled an entire bottle of firewhiskey out of his coat and handed it to his sister. He was in charge of refreshments this game.

“Because I like him better,” Lily said, taking a large swig from the bottle. “And really, he’s better company with these things.” She handed him the bottle back. “Also he knows the appropriate size for a drink, unlike someone.”

“You’re still drinking from it,” James said, taking his own swig.

By the end of the game the two Potter siblings were feeling quite warm.

“I want to go down and say hi,” Lily said. James couldn’t have said how she’d done it, but she had gotten herself into Dustin Reynold’s social circle. It wouldn’t be long, he thought, until he was her next boyfriend. Whether it would be long or short term, only time could tell.

“Alright,” James said, nodding. He had been admiring throughout the game how Scorpius’ broom had stayed true the whole night.

“Dustin!” Lily shouted as they made their way through the crowd.

“Lily! So glad you could make it,” Dustin said, grinning. “And you’ve brought a bloke.”

“My brother,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “James, Dustin Reynolds, Dustin, James Potter. And don’t believe anything he says about me.”

“It’s all true,” James said, shaking Dustin’s hand.

“James,” Scorpius said, walking over to them.

“And Lily!” Lily sang. “Congratulations, you. Very good broom work.”

“Thanks, Lily,” Scorpius said, smiling back at her.

“No problems?” James asked with a nod towards Scorpius’ broom.

“Not since the last,” Scorpius said.

“Good,” James said, smiling. He brought out the bottle of firewhiskey and held it out for Scorpius. “Victory swig?”

Scorpius looked at the bottle, which was missing quite a bit of its contents. “Sure,” he said, taking it from James and taking a drink.

“Well look at that,” Dustin said, throwing an arm around Scorpius. “He does drink.” A few of their other teammates started giving Scorpius crap for the drink, and James took the bottle back.

“On occasion, just not with you lot,” Scorpius said.

“Tonight, you’re drinking with us,” Dustin insisted. “Lils, do you want to come?”

“I don’t know that I could keep up with a Quidditch team,” Lily said, sounding hesitant.

“She’ll drink you under the table, don’t believe her,” James said. “Though she’s had a bit of firewhiskey already so you’re up on her.”

“James!” Lily pouted. “You’ve ruined it.” Dustin and Scorpius laughed. “But I’ll come with only if James does.”

Drinking with family was one thing, and friends was another, but Scorpius Malfoy and Lily was something different. James knew that Lily would be upset if he didn’t come, though, and he had to prove that he was the better brother.

“Alright then,” James said. “Though, I will say, I’m not quite as tolerant as I was when I was seventeen.” Dustin laughed again and Lily rolled her eyes.

“Ah yes, puking on the portrait outside Gryffindor commons after too many shots with the Ravenclaws,” Lily said. “Such a proud Potter moment. Dad loved that letter.”

“I remember that,” Scorpius said, smiling. He had been the one that let James in the common room.

* * *

Several hours later and James was fairly buzzed. He also didn’t know where his sister had got to but he had an idea. Meeting some of the National team members was nice, though he couldn’t for the life of him remember their names at the moment.

Scorpius spotted James looking like a lost animal and walked over to him.

“Alright there?” he asked. James looked at him and shrugged.

“She ditched me,” James said after taking a drink from his beer? Maybe not his beer. “And she’s the one you can’t say no to because she’ll get upset.”

“Dustin’s a good guy,” Scorpius said, hoping it was some sort of consolation.

“He’s the one that should be worried,” James said, shaking his head. “She’s a bit much, but she’s lovely.”

Scorpius laughed at that. “She’s good,” he replied.

“I’ve got to get myself home,” James said after they were quiet for a moment.

“Oh, but the night’s just started!” Scorpius said. The look James gave him made him laugh again.

“I can keep up with most of them, and the other week was a fluke, mind you. But I drank half a bottle of cheap firewhiskey before any of you even started,” James said. Half a bottle was a bit of an exaggeration. “I’ll be getting myself home then.”

“Do you need help?” Scorpius asked, seeming genuinely concerned for James’ welfare.

“I’m fine, I’m quite good at getting myself home and I’m not even really drunk,” James replied, grinning. Scorpius smiled back and nodded.

“Alright then, if you’re sure,” Scorpius said.

“Jamie!” Lily yelled, appearing out of nowhere.

“Lils,” James said, surprised. “I thought you’d gone.”

“Not without saying goodbye,” Lily said. “And definitely not before a game!”

A game was something that wasn’t even on James’ radar of things to be concerned about. Games were a family affair, but Lily wanted one now.

“Al would say yes,” Lily said after she saw the look on James’ face. “But if you don’t want to, it’s fine.” She knew she had him when she said that, and it was a little cruel on her part, but she had to get him to stay or else it was just her and Dustin and that wouldn’t be as much fun.

“Alright, a game, just not-” James started but Lily cut him off.

“Two truths and a lie!” she exclaimed. James took another gulp of not his beer.

“Two truths and a lie,” he finished.

“Scorpius, will you play?” Lily asked, finally turning to look at him. Scorpius had half thought she hadn’t noticed him.

“Well,” Scorpius started, and he looked from Dustin to James. “I don’t know how to play?” It came out as as sort of question, as though he wasn’t sure what to do. The look on James’ face said that was the wrong option.

“Oh it’s easy, and loads of fun,” Lily said, nodding. She waved over the bartender. “Twelve shots of tequila, thanks.” Scorpius knew he had made a mistake. “Jamie, you explain.”

James took in a deep breath. “Well, basically you come up with two true things about yourself to tell the group and one lie. But before each thing you’ve got to take a shot. Each person says one thing, then the next round, and the next. And then, everyone has to guess. If you guess wrong you take a shot and if you guess right the person you guessed correctly takes a shot.”

“Tequila?” Scorpius asked, staring at the tiny glasses of clear liquid the bartender had set before them.

“Dealer’s choice,” Lily said happily, putting three shots in front of everyone, so careful not to spill a drop.

“Normally, we pick a sane alcohol,” James said. “But Lily likes to play mind games.”

“I do!” Lily said, “and I’ll go first.” They watched as she took the salt and lime and James waited to hear what her statement was. “The last time I went out with family, my cousins all abandoned me.”

It was almost startling to hear how tame it was. James guessed it was because Dustin was there. “Dustin next!” Lily said. Dustin did his shot quite well, but was slow on his truth. James knew that was a sign that it could be a lie, but he needed to concentrate on what he was going to say.

Scorpius was dreading his first turn, but as soon as Dustin finished, he was ready to go with his shot. He did it quick and winced a little as it went down. “My favorite school subject was History of Magic,” he said. It was something trivial, and stupid, but it was something he thought of quickly.

James knew he had to go and Lily was staring at him expectantly. He took his shot and then stared her in the eyes. “One of my exes is in the corner making out with another bloke,” he said, watching as Lily’s eyes widened. Her head whipped around trying to see where they were.

“Which one!?” she practically shouted.

“I told you my thing, it’s your turn,” James said, shaking his head.

“Not fair, if I knew which I would definitely know,” Lily said, but she went on and did her shot anyway. Scorpius felt a little sad for James if it were true, it was hard to see someone move on, especially so publically.

“I got an offer from the Harpies right out of school but I turned them down,” Lily said. That was a softball for James, but he knew it was more about her and Dustin than anything else.

Scorpius watched Dustin have his go and realized he didn’t really know anything about his teammate. Though, he suspected that the things Dustin wanted Lily to know were quite different than the things he wanted his teammates to know.

“Scorpius,” Lily said, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Your turn.”

Scorpius again winced as he took his shot and wondered how James and Lily seemed so calm during theirs. “I abhor tequila,” he said without thinking. James laughed and Scorpius grinned back at him. Lily rolled her eyes, but was glad they all had something they knew to use against him.

James had been thinking about what to say but couldn’t quite get his head around it as he gulped down his second shot of tequila. He was still feeling quite drunk, which was a feat considering he had felt quite dunk before Lily roped him into this. He had a feeling that shot three and beyond would have him very drunk and in the toilets.

“I’m gay,” James said, nodding as though it were the best thing he ever thought to say. Lily started laughing hysterically and James had a feeling she was not as drunk as the three men around her.

Scorpius stared at James as Lily laughed in the background. It wasn’t really something to lie about, though it also wasn’t something that one would just blurt out in a game like this either. James noticed Scorpius staring and started to fidget again.

“Well, Lils, back to you,” James said quickly, taking his eyes off Scorpius.

It took Lily another moment to compose herself but she took her turn. Scorpius didn’t hear what she had to say, he was too focused on James. He thought back to school and wondered if it wasn’t something he had known all along. Before he could ponder on it more, Lily was calling his name and waving her hand in front of his face.

“Your turn,” she sang, and Scorpius thought that she was only just experiencing the first feelings of drunkenness. He took his shot.

“I haven’t been this drunk since school,” Scorpius said. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure if that were true or not, considering school had been quite a few years away, but he recalled a night where he didn’t remember anything after a few drinks of firewhiskey with his housemates. He had woken up in his bed, but he very much did not remember getting there.

“James, last time to get one over on me,” Lily said to her brother.

James took his shot like a soldier going into a warzone, and his side was losing. “I was chased by a pride of lions when I was in Africa for the Ministry,” he said finally. If Lily were actually drunk, she would have a very real problem of picking out which of James two statements was a lie. She already knew he was gay.

“Now we guess,” Lily said, waving the bartender over again. “Twelve shots of whatever Irish cream you’ve got, thanks.”

“I’m going to die,” James said, looking at Scorpius. Scorpius was staring at the drinks the bartender brought over.

“Yes,” he agreed, though he was slightly comforted by the fact that most Irish cream wouldn’t really be too bad. James couldn’t help but notice that Scorpius’ cheeks, which were normally so pale, were quite pink. At least, he thought, someone was as drunk as him.

“Me first,” Lily said. “Now you guess my truths and lie, James gets the freebie on this one because he’ll guess last. And then Dustin, et cetera.”

Dustin guessed it was true that Lily had rejected the Harpies and she grinned and took the shot. Scorpius stared for a moment, unsure of what to say. He had only heard the first thing she said. “You lied about your cousins?” he guessed. Lily laughed and pushed a shot towards him.

“My cousins left but my brothers stayed,” she said, patting James on the head. “And now I drink because James got my lie.”

Dustin only took one of his shots, which Lily didn’t think was fair at all.

“My turn,” Scorpius said, sounding very neutral about the whole process.

“You truly abhor tequila,” James said. Scorpius nodded and took his shot, glad that James had guessed the obvious first, though not glad that he was still drinking too much. He was also glad that they hadn’t had to stand throughout this process.

“I know you’re quite boring,” Lily began, to which Scorpius made a face at her. “But you’re not _that_ boring, so I think you’re lying about not getting this drunk since school.”

“I was not,” Scorpius said, grinning at her.

“Shit,” Lily said as she took the shot that was handed to her. She took it like a champ, though.

“I was lying about History of Magic,” Scorpius said. “I am most certainly not _that_ boring.” He took the shot and then it was James’ turn.

“You’re very gay,” Lily said, saving Dustin and Scorpius from having to say anything about it.

“I wouldn’t say very,” James said. He downed his shot. “Just, you know, a regular amount of gay.”

“You’re lying about your ex,” Dustin guessed, though he didn’t seem too sure about it.

“I was not lying about my ex,” James said, grinning. He turned to Lily, “It’s Ryan.” Dustin secretly dumped his shot on the floor.

“That slut!” Lily shouted, again looking around for the man in question.

“He left about an hour ago,” James said, shaking his head.

“But you _were_ chased by lions!” Lily said, turning back at James. “They can’t all be true.”

“I was only chased by one lion,” James said proudly. It was the kind of slip that Lily would have noticed sober. “Not the pride.” It was also an amazing feat that James had been able to slip it in as drunk as he was. He raised his shot in Scorpius’ direction and drank it down.

Scorpius wasn’t really paying attention, he had gotten caught up on the gay thing. It wasn’t really something that you just blurted out like that in his experience, but James had.

“I’m done,” James said. “No more, and I’m going to sit here for another few hours before I go home. Really, I actually don’t believe I can stand and I can’t feel my face.”

“Aw, poor Jamie,” Lily said, her smile wide. “Well, I know you can get yourself home well enough in this state, so I’m off to help the less fortunate.” She nodded at Dustin. “He needs it.”

“I’ve never seen him need help,” Scorpius said, sort of in awe of Lily’s powers.

“I have that effect on men,” Lily said. “It’s my beautiful face.”

“Manipulative personality,” James said. Lily kissed his cheek and then got up to be Dustin’s support out the door. They were both quite wobbly, and James felt a little better at that.

“She’s a monster,” Scorpius said after a moment of silence.

“I hate two truths and a lie,” James said, slumping onto the bar a bit.

“Can you get home alright?” Scorpius asked, looking at James.

“Fine,” James replied. “Just need a moment or two. I’ll get there. Won’t puke this time, either, so long as you don’t go pounding on my door too early.”

“I won’t. I think I’ll be dead by morning,” Scorpius said.

“Can _you_ get home alright?” James asked. As someone used to Lily’s drinking and manipulation prowess, James had known this would happen. Scorpius was new to it, and if he truly hadn’t been this drunk since school, this was going to be a difficult time for him.

“I don’t know,” Scorpius answered honestly.

“I’ll help,” James said, nodding. He shouldn’t have nodded. “I did have to carry you back to Gryffindor commons the last time you got this drunk.”

“What?” Scorpius asked, his eyes wide. “You did not.” James laughed.

“I did too,” James said. “I was asleep on the couch by the fire and who was it, Thomas I think? Anyway he saw me first, and considering I was the one that got him the whiskey, thought I was the perfect person to help. He said you’d passed out, they couldn’t get you up and they didn’t want to get caught carrying you through the halls.”

“I don’t believe you,” Scorpius said.

“Well I had to do something,” James continued, ignoring Scorpius. “I supplied alcohol for fifteen year olds, and Thomas was weak. Good Chaser, but weak hearted. He would have folded so easily from one question from the Headmaster. So I went out and got you. Why you couldn’t just drink in the dorms like normal guys is beyond me. Abandoned classrooms, really?”

Scorpius remembered that. It was supposed to be cooler or something.

“So I had to go and get you,” James said. “And you almost puked on me, you know. But I got you back and told them to help me get you in the shower. You woke up, got upset that your clothes were wet, and then we had to help you out of them or you wouldn’t shut up.”

Scorpius’ face was very red by this point in James’ story.

“And before you think anything of it,” James started. “It was the least sexual moment I have ever had with another naked male. Eventually we got you to bed. You snored.”

“I do not snore,” Scorpius said hotly, ignoring the part about him being naked in front of James and a questionable number of his dormmates. His whole face was red.

“Okay,” James said, shrugging. “Must have been a different blonde fifth year who drank too much.”

“That wasn’t the last time you gave Thomas alcohol, though,” Scorpius accused. “You were responsible for all of it weren’t you? All the drinking and parties wouldn’t have happened without you. No wonder sixth year was shit, you’d left.”

“Don’t blame me, it was Teddy Lupin. Your cousin, I might add,” James said. “He wanted to make sure my seventh year was memorable.”

“Was it?” Scorpius asked.

“Quite, and not just because you almost puked on me,” James said. “Though that was the first time that happened to me.”

“Not the last, though. I’m sure other men have almost puked on you,” Scorpius said, frowning at James.

“Just family, really. A baby or two,” James replied with a smile. “Al at his birthday party last year. Normal stuff.”

“And did you carry Al home?” Scorpius asked.

“I did, because I’m a good brother and a good man and I always clean up messes I make,” James replied, laughing. Scorpius smiled then, still appreciative of James’ laugh. “Are you ready to go home?”

Scorpius looked around and noticed that the bar was starting to empty out. He was the last of his teammates still there. He started to stand slowly, and swayed quite a bit.

“Ready? Yes. Able? Good question.”

“Alright,” James said, standing himself. Somehow, he seemed more sure of himself than Scorpius, though Scorpius was sure he had had more to drink. “I won’t even put you in the showers with your clothes on this time.”

“That’s, uh, that’s good,” Scorpius stammered. James grinned.

“I’m glad you think so,” he said. “If you need support just let me know, I am slightly more steady on my feet than you. I’ve had more practice, anyway.”

“Do you and your family always drink like this?” Scorpius asked as the room sort of spun around him. He hit a table and stumbled a little.

“Careful,” James said. “And sort of, when we get together it’s hard because we don’t do it so often.” James pulled Scorpius’ arm over his shoulder and supported Scorpius with his own. “Lily likes it, mostly. As the babies, she and Hugo have the most pull.” James led Scorpius out of the bar and into the street. Luckily the air was chilly and it was a bit of a wake up for both of them. “She misses it, everyone growing up. Hell we all miss it, but we just say it’s her.”

“We don’t really do that,” Scorpius said. He realized he was leaning a bit heavily on James, but James didn’t seem to mind.

“Where do you live?” James asked, pulling his wand out of his pocket.

“You can’t apparate like this,” Scorpius began to protest. “I’m not dying because you mess it up.” He realized that he was slurring a bit, but not dying was more important than keeping composure.

“I won’t mess it up,” James insisted. “We’ll be fine.”

“No way,” Scorpius said, shaking his head. The movement caused him to lose balance and he stumbled again, bringing James with him this time. They kept balance enough not to fall, but it reinforced in his mind that they should not be apparating.

“Fine, we can go back in and floo,” James said, shrugging.

“I don’t have a fireplace,” Scorpius said. James turned his head and stared at him, incredulous.

“You’re a wizard,” James said after a moment.

“I don’t have one,” Scorpius said again. “They’re dirty.”

Had Scorpius been a cousin or a sibling or Teddy, James would have immediately offered his house. But at least they were all sane enough to have a damn floo and this situation would never arise. Scorpius, though, was not sane, and not related. James couldn’t just leave him, though.

“I do,” James finally said.

“I know,” Scorpius replied. James scowled at him and steered them back into the bar.

“You can’t stare at me like you do when we get there,” James said as he walked them up to the fireplace.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Scorpius said, though he did know very well exactly what James meant.

“I don’t like it,” James said.

“I know,” Scorpius said.

“So you do know what I mean,” James said as he found the powder. He threw it before Scorpius had a chance to respond.

They were in James’ house, Scorpius knew this because he had been there fairly recently and he recognized some of the dark blobs. James waived his hand and a light turned on in the corner.

“Let’s get you to bed,” James said, leading Scorpius towards the bathroom. Scorpius was leaning even more heavily, the promise of sleep and the fact that he had let himself be found out so easily when drunk were making him tired and a little more unsteady.

“The couch is right there,” Scorpius said when they were to the door. The couch was no longer right there. James opened the door to the bedroom and helped Scorpius inside.

“You’re getting heavier,” James said as he maneuvered Scorpius to the bed. James disentangled himself and gave Scorpius a little push.

“Hey!” Scorpius yelped as he fell to the bed. The room was spinning again. He would not remember this in the morning. James fiddled with his laces and got his shoes off.

“If you want anything else off, you’ll have to do it yourself. But I recommend you try when the room stops moving of its own accord,” James said.

“I’m fine,” Scorpius said, though it came out more like ‘m’fnn’.

“I’ll be on the couch. Bathroom, as you know, is first door to the left.” James turned and left Scorpius on his own, though he kept the door open. He collapsed onto the couch, too tired and drunk to be contemplative.

  
Scorpius woke up and then wished he hadn’t. He couldn’t keep his eyes open, and it felt as though a Beater had mistaken his skull for a Bludger. Also the Bludger was inside his skull. He shoved his face under a pillow and groaned. He wished he hadn’t done that, as well. His mouth was dry and somehow making noise made his head hurt even more. He wanted to cry, but he knew he was too dehydrated for tears.

It wasn’t until he woke up for the second time hours later that he realized he was not in his own bed. It was the smell, really, it did not smell like his bed. He lifted his head from under the pillow and looked around. He couldn’t quite remember where he was, if he was being honest, and he wasn’t about to get up to look. There was still a Bludger in his head.

The third time was the charm.

Scorpius suspected that it was past midday, though not quite yet into early evening. He sat up and winced, but at least this time he could keep his eyes opened. His stomach was roiling, and he decided that he needed either a bathroom or a bucket. As there were no buckets in the room he was in, he headed for the open door. Luckily the bathroom door was also open and he made it to the toilet just as the liquid evil was exiting his body.

“Well,” he said as he stood again and rinsed his mouth at the sink. He avoided looking at his reflection for as long as he could. He looked ghastly. His hair was a mess, his face was splotched red, there were dark circles under his eyes, which were bloodshot, and he looked all over a fright.

He didn’t get to contemplate his image long, because he threw up again. He also noted he was still drunk, which was, in his mind, impossible, but his body was living the reality.

After he was very sure that he wasn’t going to vomit again, he ventured out of the bathroom. The hallway looked familiar. The living room was also familiar. And there was James on the couch, still very much passed out. Scorpius noticed a bucket on the floor by his head.

“At least it’s not just me,” Scorpius said quietly. He made his way to the kitchen and found himself a glass and some water. He drank that, and three more, then made his way back to the bedroom. Scorpius really wanted to snoop around James’ house, but the need for more sleep deterred him. He mentally lamented how he would never get another chance like this.

It felt like hours later and the sound of the shower running woke him up. It had to be a bit into the evening by then, though he wasn’t sure. Scorpius made a note to never, ever drink with Lily Potter again. He sat up and realized that he could also use a shower himself, but he didn’t want to continue to impose on James. He felt it would be rude, though, leaving without saying anything. So he waited.

James came out of the bathroom fully clothed, and he smiled when he saw Scorpius up. “Back from the dead, I see,” he said.

Scorpius nodded grimly. “Your sister is the worst,” he said. James laughed and it made Scorpius smile.

“She is,” James replied. “If you’d like, shower’s yours. I was going to make something to eat if you can handle it?”

Food sounded like a good idea to Scorpius, he definitely needed something in his stomach to settle things. “Are you sure?” he asked.

James shrugged. “I saw you drunk, you played a drinking game with my sister and didn’t die. The least I could do is feed you,” he said. “Though you really don’t have to stay if you’d rather not.”

Scorpius nodded. “Food and a shower would be good, I think,” he said. James went off to the kitchen and Scorpius went into the bathroom.

A few cleaning charms on his clothes after he got out and he was feeling a great deal better. There was also something that smelled very good coming from the kitchen.

“You look much better,” James said after a glance at Scorpius.

“Are you saying I looked bad?” Scorpius asked. James was a little sad that they were back to the same old thing again, but he shrugged.

“I wouldn’t say you looked good,” he replied. “Sit.”

Scorpius was going to say something about how he wasn’t to be commanded like a dog, but he was hungry.

James filled a bowl with soup and set it in front of him. “I figure the more liquid the better,” he said. “And it’s easy on the stomach.”

Instead of making another snide remark, Scorpius started eating. James sat across from him and ate his own bowl, watching Scorpius. It was a bit troublesome to him that he couldn’t remember most of last night, though it seemed Scorpius was in the same boat.

“This is good,” Scorpius said, finally looking up from his meal. He noticed James staring and he stared back. To his dismay, James didn’t seem to become uncomfortable.

“Thanks,” James said. “Gran’s chicken stock, though really it’s difficult to mess up soup.”

“Don’t say that to my mother,” Scorpius said. James chuckled.

“I don’t plan to,” he said. “Do you want more?” Scorpius nodded and James took his bowl to refill.

It seemed as though neither of them was going to bring up the events of the night before, though it was probably because neither of them could remember them.

“You do that often?” Scorpius asked, meaning the drinking.

“Maybe once or twice a month,” James said, shrugging. “We all try to get together at Gran’s at least once a month and then if we do a family dinner with mum and dad, Lily begs. We don’t go out drinking every week, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I wasn’t,” Scorpius said. Though if he really thought about it, he would say that James’ and Lily’s tolerance was considerably higher than twice-a-month drinkers’ should be.

“How do you not have a fireplace?” James asked, that bit of information coming back to him.

Scorpius’ face turned a little pink. “I just don’t like them, they make a mess,” he said. “And it’s not like I want my family popping ‘round every second like you.” The second part was a dig that Scorpius had been throwing at James since school.

“At least my family likes me enough to pop ‘round,” James shot back. Scorpius glared at him and James scowled back.

James shook his head and grabbed their empty bowls and put them in the sink.

“What if I wasn’t done?” Scorpius asked, leaning back in his chair. James turned and looked at him.

“Then you should have said something earlier instead of insulting my family’s love for me,” James said. Scorpius didn’t really have anything to say to that, but he did notice James was becoming uncomfortable under his gaze again.

“Did you sleep well?” Scorpius asked after a moment.

“Fine,” James replied with a shrug.

“Good,” Scorpius said, smiling. He seemed so smug it definitely made James feel like a seventeen year old again.

“Well. I think I have something to do?” James said, though it sounded more like a question.

“It’s half past five,” Scorpius said, frowning. “What could you possibly have to do?”

James’ immediate thought was that he had to get away from Scorpius, but he didn’t say anything.

“I suppose, nothing,” he finally said, feeling only slightly defeated.

Scorpius stared. It was quite amusing to watch James struggle like this, and it was really only because of boyhood teasing and secrets that James acted this way. Scorpius would have thought that he had grown out of it, but he hadn’t.

“Well, what do you normally do when you have nothing?” Scorpius asked.

“Things,” James said, shrugging. “Have to change the sheets now that you’ve sweated all your alcohol into them.”

“Like they were clean before,” Scorpius scoffed.

“Were too,” James said. “Hadn’t slept on them yet.”

Scorpius narrowed his eyes, but he knew James was telling the truth. He remembered how the sheets smelled when he’d woken up that morning.

James sighed, wondering why they always had to revert back to this. They were grown men and here they were acting like the same boys they’d been in school. It was ridiculous and James knew his behavior only encouraged it.

“Well, I’m going to strip the bed,” James said, making his way to his bedroom.

Scorpius followed. He knew that James wouldn’t ever actually ask him to leave, he was quite polite in that way, but he wondered how much he would take before getting too upset.

“Why isn’t there anything in here?” Scorpius asked, really looking around James’ room for the first time. There was the bed, and a nightstand with a lamp, but other than his clothes in the closet there was nothing. The walls were blank and the window coverings were plain white. The whole room seemed very sterile compared to the rest of James’ house.

“I don’t spend much time in here,” James said. “You know, besides the obvious.”

Scorpius looked around the room again, thinking of his bedroom at home. It was cozy, and he wasn’t one prone to knick-knacks but there were some things here and there. His mother might call some of it clutter, but he didn’t mind it. James’ room was completely void of any personalization.

“It’s weird,” Scorpius decided, sitting himself on the bare mattress.

“What would you have me put in here?” James asked, making his way to the utility room off the kitchen with the sheets. Scorpius jumped up and followed him.

“I don’t know, a book or something?” Scorpius said, frowning.

“I thought I was too dumb to read,” James said, which had been something Scorpius said after announcing James had failed History of Magic to the whole of Gryffindor house.

“Well you are,” Scorpius agreed. “But at least make it more normal or something.”

“Why do you want my bedroom to be more pleasing to you? Do you plan on spending much time there?” James asked.

Scorpius turned bright red. This was how it always had been, he’d be doing so well making fun of James and then the other wizard had to ruin it with some snide comment.

“I would rather die,” he snapped.

James laughed and Scorpius hated how much he liked it. He watched James shove his sheets into the washing machine, scowling.

“You look like you used to when you were fourteen,” James said, grinning at him. It only made Scorpius scowl harder and James laughed again.

“You still look like the dumb oaf you were when you were sixteen,” Scorpius said, crossing his arms.

“Good one, Malfoy,” James said, nodding. “You were always quick with a comeback, even if it was awful.”

“Well at least I didn’t fail History of Magic,” Scorpius huffed.

James stomach hurt he laughed so hard and Scorpius’ face got red with anger.

“Why are you acting like this?” James asked as he calmed down. The color in Scorpius’ cheeks almost made him start all over again. “We’re grown men, for Merlin’s sake.”

“Why are _you_ acting like this?” Scorpius retorted. “You’re older.”

Scorpius was again the petulant child James had remembered from school. He would have laughed again if he weren’t so confused. They had had some okay conversations in the past six months or so through the broommaking process, but always things devolved. James wasn’t wholly comfortable with Scorpius being around, but he dealt with it.

“I dunno, you started it,” James said, pushing past Scorpius out of the laundry room.

“Did not,” Scorpius said, trailing after him and flopping down onto the couch. James began to wash the dishes that were in his sink. “You’re a wizard, you know.”

“Sometimes I forget,” James said. “I can’t quite remember the history of it, so I just don’t use it.”

Scorpius chuckled in spite of himself. Truly, he didn’t know why he was acting like this, James always made him feel like a child though. He could have drank him under the table the night before, but having to be helped to a home that wasn’t even his made him feel too young. James had always treated him like he was a baby, too. He understood why Al and Lily got that from him, but it was utterly ridiculous that James should in any way limit him when he didn’t require it. It made him angry, and Scorpius had always found ways to embarrass James because of it.

James came in and sat in the armchair by the fireplace.

“Are you going to go home any time soon?” James asked, though he didn’t really seem to care what Scorpius’ answer might be.

“Yes,” Scorpius said. “After I’m tired of harassing you I’ll leave.”

“Merlin Scorpius, grow up,” James said, sounding exasperated.

“You started it!” Scorpius said, knowing that it wasn’t helping his situation any.

They were silent and Scorpius finally stood.

“I’m leaving,” he said as though it were the most important thing James would hear that day.

“Good riddance,” James said, sounding actually a bit cross.

“That’s a rude way to walk a guest out of your home,” Scorpius replied. “But I guess you still have no manners.”

“Yeah, yeah,” James said, standing to actually walk Scorpius out.

“Well,” Scorpius said, looking around. “Thanks for not leaving me in a bar to floo back to my parents’ house then having to explain exactly what happened to me to my mother and a house elf that would ultimately have to clean up the mess of me being that drunk and the floo.”

James grinned and nodded. “Always happy to help the house elves,” he said. “If you ever drink with my sister again, make sure you’ve had a good meal and plenty of water beforehand.”

“Right,” Scorpius agreed. “I’ll see you around.” James watched as Scorpius disapparated home and then went inside to finish washing his sheets.

It turns out ‘around’ was in James’ shop, and was only two days since they’d seen each other last. Scorpius burst in and looked quite unhappy.

“You had better start explaining what you’ve been doing to my broom, Potter,” he growled.

James expression switched from surprise, to confusion, and finally settled on annoyed. “What do you mean?” James asked as Scorpius very nearly slammed the broom on the counter.

“I mean that today, the first day I’ve flown it since the match that _you_ were at, it bucks me again,” Scorpius said angrily. “Which leads me to believe that _you’re_ the one who’s been messing with it.”

James closed his eyes tightly for a moment. “I would like you to take a moment,” he began, “to think about why I would ever sabotage my own broom when its rider is in the public eye quite a bit with it. What would that do for me, financially, do you think?”

“I don’t care what it might do for you at all,” Scorpius practically shouted. James was lucky the shop was empty. “Do you realize that had I fallen during a game it could end my career? I could die!”

“Right, I can see the headline now: James Potter makes career ending broom, Malfoy family out for blood, again,” James retorted. “Really, definitely something I would do.”

“And you bring my family into it!” Scorpius said, his volume still what one might consider a shout. “Why are you cursing your broom? What do you have against me?”

“Maybe it’s not me,” James said. “Have you ever thought that maybe, you just aren’t as good of a flyer as you think you are?”

“If I were a bad flyer I wouldn’t be on the National team.”

“Right like there’s never been a bad Quidditch player on the National team.”

“You’re just upset because not even the Cannons would take you after you graduated.”

“Oh yes, because being a Quidditch player is all anyone should ever aspire to. Any other career path is shit, according to you.”

“Well you definitely didn’t pick something you were good at.”

“If you didn’t think I’d be good at it there are _three_ _other broommakers in Europe alone_!” James knew that he was shouting then, but he was a bit upset at the accusation that he would sabotage his own broom. There would honestly be no gain in that for him, even if he did hate Scorpius as much as the other wizard seemed to think he did.

Scorpius wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen James truly angry. Annoyed, of course, but actual anger wasn’t something that James really put out.

“ _And_ ,” James began again through clenched teeth, Scorpius leaving too big a pause before responding. “You have a sponsorship package.”

There really was nothing Scorpius could say to that. He’d turned down the sponsorship package pretty early on, and he’d actually gotten offers from two of the other three broommakers. He had picked James on purpose, and without telling anyone. It had been a total surprise to James himself and really anyone else who cared to think about where he’d get his broom made. A few of the guys on the team mentioned maybe getting someone with more experience but Scorpius had made his decision before he’d even made the team. As soon as he’d heard that James Potter was making brooms he had known he would get a broom from him.

It was the first time that James had seen Scorpius truly speechless, though that didn’t make him any less angry about the whole situation. He inspected the broom as Scorpius stared at him. “It’s been charmed again, the same one as before,” he said tersely. He pulled his wand out and reversed the charm again. “If it happens again maybe you should take it somewhere else, or, you know, get better at charms.”

“I’m just fine at charms,” Scorpius said, though some of the fight had gone out of him.

James just nodded and pushed the broom across the counter towards him.

“James,” Scorpius started, but he couldn’t really think of what to say. He wasn’t going to apologize, of course, so he grabbed the broom. “I’ll bring it back if there’s another problem.”

James wasn’t going to say ‘don’t bother’, but he wasn’t stopping himself from thinking it. He hoped that he wouldn’t see Scorpius again for quite some time.

James did not get his wish.

It was a few weeks later that he saw Scorpius again and the younger man again had his broom in tow. James sighed, already tired even though it was early. He decided to wait for Scorpius to describe the problem before he snapped at him.

“It’s pulling right a little bit,” Scorpius said, placing the broom on the counter. “All up through last match and it was fine, practice last night and it starts pulling.”

“And you brought it home between?” James asked. He knew someone was doing this, and it wasn’t him and it wasn’t Scorpius.

“Yes,” Scorpius replied. He did not seem to be in a fighting mood today.

“Then it’s someone on your team, or someone you’ve seen all the time, like your mom,” James had to add the subtle dig, it made him feel a little better.

“My mother doesn’t come to all my matches,” Scorpius said, determined not to have another shouting match. “And I don’t think my teammates would want me to perform poorly.”

“Well then who else did you see at the match a few weeks ago and the one this week?” James asked.

Scorpius had to think about it. “I suppose there could have been any number of fans that were there both time. I don’t really pay attention to who comes onto the field,” he said. “I guess your sister was there both times, but I hadn’t seen her at the earlier matches and there was one in between matches.”

“She’s cruel but she’d rather you died of alcohol poisoning,” James said, shaking his head. In his head, though, he knew that he was going to kill his sister. It made a bit of sense, now, but he wasn’t quite sure entirely why she’d done it.

“I don’t know who was at all the games,” Scorpius said. “It could be anyone.”

“I think your safest bet is to fly another broom for right now,” James said, though it pained him. Having an England team member flying his broom was good business, and having him switch mid year wasn’t something that looked too good.

“What if they do it to that one too?” Scorpius asked. It seemed to him that it wasn’t all about James and his broom, it was about him as a famous Quidditch player. They were both from prominent families, though, so it could be either or both.

“I’ll fix it for you,” James replied.

“Thanks, James,” Scorpius said, looking at the broom.

“No problem,” James said. He was sort of distracted trying to remember if his sister would be home that afternoon or not.

Scorpius took his broom off the counter and left the shop.

* * *

Lily wasn’t home when James went to check that day. And she wasn’t home any subsequent time, either. He couldn’t seem to get ahold of her at all, so he had to take another route.

“I’m going to the match instead of you today,” James said to Al. It wasn’t a question.

“No,” Al said slowly, sort of confused. “I’m going to this one, I don’t have to work.”

“No, you’re not. I need to see Lily,” James said. Al knew his brother was dumb, but this was almost too much.

“You do know where she lives, James.”

“She’s been conveniently out every time I went to see her in the past two weeks. And she won’t answer my firecalls.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re getting my seat at the match!” Al exclaimed. Whatever was going down with James and Lily, he wanted no part in.

“Albus,” James said, and Al knew then that he wasn’t going to the match. “Lily has caused some serious trouble for me and my business and I am not going to let it slide. I’ve never fucked with her job, not that she’s kept one long enough to, and I am going to get to the bottom of why she’s fucking with mine.”

“Okay, okay,” Al said, pulling the ticket out of his pocket. Whatever it was, it was serious for James to be this upset with Lily. James never got upset with Lily, which Al had always been quite vocal about. It didn’t feel good to finally see it. It also didn’t help that he knew James was nervous ever since starting his own business. It wasn’t like he lacked for funds, but he had always had some issues with feeling successful and being a Potter. Mostly that he didn’t feel successful but he was still a Potter.

“Go easy on her, at least,” Al said, though he wasn’t sure that James heard because he apparated midway through him speaking.

* * *

Lily was surprised to see James to say the least. She had known, of course, that he had been looking for her. She hadn’t been avoiding him, she had just been very busy. Work was getting busy and she and Dustin were at the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

“Where’s Al?” she asked as James took his seat.

“Couldn’t make it, last minute,” James replied, though he wasn’t looking at her. He seemed tense.

“Well I’m glad you’re here,” Lily said, though she was unsure about it. James was never tense. He pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey and handed it to her. At least he’d brought drinks to share.

The match had been going on an hour and Lily was feeling pleasantly buzzed. “How have you been, Jay?” she asked.

“Fine,” James said shortly. Lily noted that he was still tense, though it was odd, considering he’d been drinking as well. Normally that loosened James up, but today was different.

England lost the game.

“Well come on,” Lily said, heading towards the pitch. “I’m going to see how Dustin is. You can see how Scorpius flew.”

“Well enough considering he wasn’t on my broom,” James said as he followed her down.

“He’s not?” Lily asked, surprised. “I thought he liked it.”

“Guess not,” James replied. Lily again felt uneasy with her brother, it was something new and she wasn’t sure she liked it. She also felt bad, Scorpius had been James’ first big name player on one of his brooms.

When they got on the pitch Dustin was there looking grim. “Next time,” Lily said, trying for cheerful but the loss and James had her feeling off.

“Good game,” James said, and Lily noted he seemed fine with Dustin.

Scorpius made his way over when he spotted James and Lily.

“I’ve seen first year’s better on a broom than you today,” James said to him, and Scorpius gave something between a smile and a grimace.

“Be nice, James,” Lily said, frowning at her brother.

“It’s alright,” Scorpius said. “At least I still fly better than him.”

“We’re all going to drown our sorrows, care to join us?” Dustin asked, throwing an arm around Lily’s shoulders. He seemed pretty happy, losing aside.

“I’m in, James?” Lily asked. James nodded.

“I’ll come. Scorpius?” James asked, looking at the last of their group.

“I think I’ve got the market cornered on sorrow tonight, so I’m more than happy to join,” Scorpius said. He was disappointed, sure, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t flew hard, so he didn’t really feel _so_ badly about the loss.

They ended up at the same bar as before, and Scorpius could tell there was something up with James. After a year or so in the same house, it was easy to tell when James was in a mood. He always tried to be the center of attention back then and it was hard to notice anything else.

“Are you alright?” Scorpius asked after they’d been been out for quite a while. He also noticed that James had been nursing the same beer the whole time.

“Fine,” James said, though he did not sound like it. He was watching his sister.

“Is something going on with Lily?” Scorpius tried.

“I don’t know,” James replied, he looked at Scorpius then back to his sister. “I’m going to find out.”

“James,” Scorpius said. James looked back to him, waiting. Scorpius wasn’t sure what to say, though. “I don’t know, you just seem off.”

“It’s fine,” James said. “What about you, losing like that wasn’t great.”

“Sometimes you lose,” Scorpius said. “The broom’s not as good.” James smiled at that.

“At least it’s not cursed,” James replied, though he was still smiling.

“True,” Scorpius said. “I’ll drink to that.” He raised his glass and James touched his own to it and took a drink.

“You don’t want to get drunk,” Scorpius said after a moment.

“I’m waiting for the game,” James said. Scorpius winced.

“I don’t think I really want to do that again,” Scorpius said. “But I did lose, so drinking helps.”

James laughed. “It’s not your fault,” he said. “You flew well, and so did the team. Sometimes they’re just better.”

“Thanks, coach,” Scorpius said, patting James on the shoulder. James shrugged.

It only took few more minutes for Lily and Dustin to wander back over to where James and Scorpius were at the bar.

“How’s everyone’s sorrows doing?” Lily asked, sitting next to James.

“Alright,” Scorpius said.

“Who wants a game?” she asked the three of them. She looked a bit mischievous, but it didn’t make Scorpius feel as nervous as James did. There was something going on here.

“I’m in,” James said. Dustin agreed and Scorpius nodded. “How’s about never have I ever?” James said before Lily could say anything.

“Oh,” she said. “Okay.” She figured that he just wanted to avoid two truths and a lie again, though with her getting more familiar with Dustin she was glad to avoid it too.

“So how’s this one go?” Dustin asked, and James was struck by how innocent his school days must have been.

“So,” Lily said, “you say ‘never have I ever eaten sushi’ and whoever has eaten sushi drinks. Also, gentlemen, we can avoid cheap shots at me because I’m the only girl. We can stop when someone’s hit five or something, or until someone passes out. Now, James picks the drink because he picked the game.”

“Tequila,” James said and Lily grinned.

“Jamie’s got his big guns out,” she said. Dustin and Scorpius both looked nervous, but for different reasons. She waived the bartender over. “We’ll start slow, twelve shots of tequila.”

Scorpius did not like where this was going. Things could get very bad, especially with how James’ mood seemed to be.

As soon as each of them had three shots in front of them, Lily looked at James expectantly to start the game.

“Never have I ever played professional Quidditch,” he said. He knew that would get all of them, because while Lily may have rejected the Harpies’ original offer, she did eventually join them for half a season. He watched as she took her shot, biding his time.

“Me next,” Lily said, thinking about it. “Never have I ever kissed a girl.” She giggled as the three wizards took their drinks.

“Never have I ever gotten sexual in the prefects baths,” Dustin said once he’d gotten over his tequila.

“I told you that in confidence!” Lily exclaimed. But she wasn’t alone in her shot, as James took one with her. Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her and her brother.

“It wasn’t with her,” James said somewhat defensively.

“He’s definitely not my cutest brother,” Lily said.

It was Scorpius’ turn next and he was nervous. This game was much worse than two truths and a lie. “Never have I ever,” he said slowly. It was his only stalling tactic. Sure, there were things he was sure that would get everyone else to drink, but he didn’t want to reveal too much personal information. “Turned down a professional Quidditch offer.” It was true, but he didn’t have to tell them he’d only tried out for the team he’d wanted.

“It looks like everyone’s out to get me,” Lily said as she took her third shot. She winced this time, and James knew that she was a bit more drunk than she’d anticipated. “Well, Jay, you next.”

“Never have I ever,” James began, then he noticed Lily had finished her drinks. “Wait, you need more before I go.”

“You don’t trust me?” she asked, though she let James get the bartender to place two more shots in front of her.

“I feel like this is detrimental to our health,” Dustin said after a moment, though he slurred a bit making Lily laugh.

“Maybe,” James agreed, though he was grinning.

“Alright James, what have you never?” Lily asked, staring expectantly at her brother.

“Never have I ever,” James started again. He noted that Lily was getting there, and the fact that he’d given her some fairly strong firewhiskey may have been part of that. He had a moment then, in which he felt bad about what he was doing, but it passed quickly. “Gotten caught sneaking through Hogwarts castle after hours.”

“Cheap shot!” Lily shouted. “Dustin didn’t even _go_ to Hogwarts and Scorpius wouldn’t have been caught dead sneaking about at night.”

“Hey,” Scorpius said, his ego a little bruised. “I snuck around.”

“True, and he got himself too drunk to sneak back once, too,” James said.

“How do you know that?” Scorpius asked, though he had a flashback from the other night, they had talked about it.

“You were a sloppy drunk. I, the responsible party, had to clean up the mess,” James replied with a shrug.

“No way,” Lily said, shaking her head in disbelief. “But I guess I’ll take it, and cheers to all the better sneaks than I was.” She sat and thought for a moment, and noticed it was getting a little harder to focus. “Never have I ever blacked out drunk.”

“That’s just completely not true,” James said, shaking his head. “I think I can name about six times at least in which you were completely blacked out. Your eighteenth birthday being one.”

“I don’t remember that,” Lily said. “Didn’t happen.”

“You wanted to floo call Viktor Krum and tell him you were in love with him,” James said.

“Well you were in love with him too!” Lily shouted. “More than me, definitely.” James turned a bit red at that, but the alcohol was helping to keep that under wraps.

“Well,” James said, shrugging again. “Viktor Krum definitely is deserving of it. Objectively, mum and dad’s most attractive friend.”

“Agreed,” Lily said. “But I’ve still never been blacked out drunk.”

Scorpius was taking this all in and hoping his face didn’t reveal his personal feelings. He was a bit shocked, to say the least. That was quite an understatement, but still shocked.

“I think other people might know that more than you,” Dustin said, taking James’ side.

“Nuh uh!” Lily exclaimed. “I can’t believe you’d side with him.”

“You should definitely pick something else,” Dustin said. James grinned and nodded.

“See,” James said. “Dustin is definitely a good guy, and he’s also the new drinking game moral compass.”

“Fine,” Lily huffed, though she honestly didn’t seem that upset. “Never have I ever eaten sushi.”

Scorpius and Dustin took a shot. James, for all his love of food, had never touched the stuff. He was all for fish and chips, but something about it being raw got to him. The group waved the bartender over and got two more shots each for Scorpius and Dustin. Surprisingly, James hadn’t finished his first three. It made Scorpius suspicious.

“Never have I ever,” Dustin said. He was starting to wonder if this is what all nights out with Lily would be like. “Drank this much tequila.”

“Last time we drank together it was more, definitely,” Lily said.

“I don’t remember how many, so in my mind, this is definitely the most tequila I’ve drank,” Dustin said.

“I don’t know why you’re arguing, Lils,” James said. “You definitely don’t have to drink on this one. And if you did, you’d lose.”

“Oh,” Lily said, looking down at the lone shot in front of her. “Right. Well then, Scorpius, you take yours and we can move on.”

“How do you know I’m the only one who has to drink?” Scorpius asked, frowning. Lily and James both looked at him as though that were the stupidest question in the world, so he took his shot. “Never have I ever been to Africa.”

“That’s just not fair,” James said, though he took his shot without too much more complaining. “How do you even remember that?” Scorpius shrugged and then everyone looked to James to have his next turn.

James looked to the shot in front of his sister, and Lily knew that she was going to lose. “Never have I ever purposely sabotaged Scorpius Malfoy’s broom,” James said, staring Lily in the eye. It was good to note that Lily had never once lied at a game of never have I ever. She always took her shots like a champ and didn’t complain even if someone chose something completely embarrassing she had to drink to.

She took the shot.

“I can explain,” she said, though James looked to be in no mood to hear it.

“What?” Scorpius asked, dumbfounded. Dustin, for his part, just watched in silence.

For all the trouble he went to get there, James did not want her to explain. He didn’t even want her to apologize, he just wanted her to stop.

“James,” Lily started, though she wasn’t quite sure what to say. An apology would be good, though she felt it more owed to Scorpius than anyone else. “Well, Scorpius,” she said, turning to him instead. “I really am sorry. I didn’t mean for you to break anything, but I did mean to charm your broom.”

“Great apology, really, Lils, perfect,” James said sarcastically. He stood, and while he may not have felt drunk, he had still recently taken three shots of tequila.

Scorpius was just staring. He could think of no reason whatsoever Lily would want to mess with him. Every school prank grudge had been left at Hogwarts, and really, they hadn’t seen each other in quite some time. The only reason they had even crossed paths again was James, and not even James really, but more Dustin. He looked to his teammate and wondered if he wanted to harm him in some way. The thought was ridiculous, Dustin was one of the softest Quidditch players Scorpius had ever met.

“I,” Scorpius said, looking from James to Lily. “What?”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Lily said, and she was getting quite upset. “Honestly, you’re a better flyer than that, but I get it practice is different. You weren’t supposed to fall.”

“What _was_ he supposed to do?” James asked, and Scorpius was fine letting James be angry enough for both of them. He was honestly too confused to be angry at the moment.

“He was supposed to get it fixed!” Lily said. “Like before, he was supposed to get it fixed, you fixed it for him. It wasn’t that strong of a charm, and I knew that you could easily reverse it.” She was talking quickly now, all of her words coming out in a rush. “He was just supposed to come see you again.”

“But why?” Scorpius asked, still utterly confused.

Lily paused, looking from Scorpius to her brother. They were both staring at her, waiting for her answer. “I don’t want to say,” she said.

It was the wrong thing.

“You said you could explain,” James said. “Well thanks so much, this makes so much more sense now. I completely understand, you just wanted to force Scorpius into the shop. Really, it makes _so_ much sense.” James shook his head and started to storm out of the pub.

“James, wait,” Lily called. She looked at Scorpius and shook her head. “Come on,” she said, grabbing his arm and dragging him after James. Dustin looked on, shocked, but also pleased that he wouldn’t have to keep drinking the shots in front of him.

The street around them was abandoned and for that Lily was grateful. “Alright!” Lily shouted at her brother. “Alright, yes, I did it to get him into the shop. That’s exactly why I did it.”

James stopped walking and looked at her, Scorpius really just wished to be anywhere but there.

“Why?” James asked, his tone sharp.

“Why do you think?” Lily asked, which was, again, the wrong thing. “James, okay, think about it. For two years I saw you two teasing and pranking each other and all of it. Then you go off and you’re not the same anymore when you come back. You just haven’t seemed all there, not crazy, don’t look at me like that. You just are different, and it’s more than growing up. I don’t know, I thought that if you were together again that it might just bring you a little back to normal.” She shrugged. “And Scorpius isn’t the same either.”

“We were boys,” James said in disbelief. “Lily, teenagers. Of course we’re different now.”

“It wasn’t just boys,” Lily exclaimed. “Albus was jealous of you two, do you know that? The teasing and such, you didn’t need him down in the Slytherin dungeons, you had Scorpius down the hall, in the common room, in the Great Hall at dinner. He knew it too, you know. We’ve talked about it. He’s worried about you, but he thought that if you and Scorpius were friends again then maybe you’d be better.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me!” James yelled. “I grew up! I was working for the Ministry, I couldn’t be messing around like I used to.” Lily knew from his tone that his anger was turning more into a general upset-ness. It hurt James to hear that even if it made Albus jealous, he still wanted the best for James.

Scorpius, for his part, was feeling utterly out of place. He didn’t want to be hearing this, and he didn’t want Lily shaking his arm whenever he happened to be a part of her story.

“Al didn’t see it,” Lily started, and James had an idea of where she was going with everything.

“Don’t,” James said. “Fine, you wanted everything to go back to normal and you used Scorpius as a pawn to get there.”

“He wasn’t a pawn,” Lily said, glancing at Scorpius. “He’s more a knight or something.” That didn’t make Scorpius feel any better. “And James, seriously. I’ve always thought that you-”

“I get it,” James said quickly, cutting her off. “You didn’t have to do all this, just for that. You could have talked to me, you and Al. You didn’t have to go behind my back and use Scorpius and possibly killed him and got charges brought against me.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have appreciated that,” Scorpius said, though Lily didn’t seem to hear him. James smiled, though, his first one the whole night.

“Alright, fine,” Lily said. “But it’s the first time you’ve come out besides family gatherings in months, you have to admit it. You wouldn’t have come if it was just me and Al asking, you know it.”

“Just leave his broom alone, really. It doesn’t look good for me that he rode it for a month and has a new one now,” James said. The thing he had been most mad about had sort of gotten lost in it all. “I won’t be doing any business any time soon.”

“Alright, fine,” Lily said. “I am sorry, Scorpius.” She squeezed his arm gently, and he wondered if she would finally release him now.

“I can’t say that I feel good about it, but I could forgive you,” Scorpius replied, looking from Lily to James and back. It was all so ridiculous. It was crazy. He could not believe that he was just in the middle of a sibling scheme.

“I’m going home,” James said. “We can talk about this later.”

He disapparated before anyone else could say anything.

“He wouldn’t let me finish what I was saying,” Lily said, a scowl forming on her face. She wasn’t so upset, but Scorpius thought she seemed a little annoyed with James. “I’d always thought he sort of liked you.”

“What?” Scorpius asked. This whole night was getting to be too much for him.

“You know. He’s gay, I don’t know if you are, but I thought he liked you,” she said. “Not that it would matter unless you were gay, but now you know what I was trying to say, and apparently what he didn’t want you to hear.”

Scorpius didn’t know what to say to that. James Potter had, at worst, been his tormentor, at best, his comrade in arms, though it was mostly somewhere in the middle. Not once had he thought he _liked_ him. They were fairly friendly, up until an incident in James’ fifth year where Scorpius may have gone too far, but even after that they could still be considered acquaintances. It didn’t stop James from ribbing him any second he got, though he had gotten a bit more cautious about it.

“I think you’re mistaken on that,” Scorpius said finally.

“I think I’m correct,” Lily said, very matter-of-fact. She seemed to think that it left no room for Scorpius to argue, but she obviously didn’t know him very well.

“I have to say, that in all my years of knowing James Potter, there was not a time I stopped and thought to myself, ‘hey, maybe he wants to date me instead of ridicule me in front of all of Gryffindor for writing letters to my mother,’” Scorpius said.

“He wrote letters home, he just didn’t let anyone see them,” Lily said. “You weren’t very good when it came to him. Except that History of Magic thing.”

“You weren’t even _at_ Hogwarts then,” Scorpius said.

“Al told me,” Lily replied, shrugging.

“I still have to say you’re wrong,” Scorpius said. “And really, I would just be happy to fly my broom and forget this all happened.”

“Don’t do that,” Lily said, her eyes wide. She squeezed his arm tighter and he wondered why he hadn’t gotten her to let him go. “I’ll charm your broom every day for the rest of your life. He’s been better.”

The glazed look in her eyes told him that the adrenaline had worn off and she was simply drunk again. “Right, Lily,” Scorpius said as he patted her hand. “I won’t forget it, but let’s see if we can’t find Dustin to take you home.”

“I forgot about Dustin,” Lily said as Scorpius led her back into the pub.

“I wouldn’t tell him that,” Scorpius replied. He found his teammate and handed her off to him.

“Alright then?” Dustin asked.

“Fine, but I’ll let you in on something that everyone at Hogwarts knew immediately. The Potters are a crazy bunch, and you may have a few more nights like this ahead of you,” Scorpius said. Dustin laughed.

“I’ve met a couple of her uncles,” Dustin replied. “I haven’t felt that in danger for my life in a while, and I’ve been bashed with the Bludgers quite a few times.”

Scorpius grinned. “Uncle Ron was being nice!” Lily said. “Quite nicer to you than to Rosie’s boyfriend.”

“Have a good night,” Scorpius said, and he left the bar glad to be rid of the Potters for the night.

* * *

It was a few weeks before Scorpius could bring himself to visit James. He didn’t really have to. The broom was fine. But what Lily had said was nagging at him. So James was gay, that had come back to him as one of his bits and pieces from their first drinking game night. That didn’t mean he was interested in Scorpius, not that Scorpius would want him to be.

But he needed his broom fixed. Or at least that was what he was telling himself.

“Scorpius,” James said when he walked into the shop. He seemed nervous, though it could very well have been the same sort of nervous as before everything with Lily.

“Hi,” Scorpius replied. He set his broom on the counter. “I just wanted to get it looked at. It’s been a while and I wanted you to make sure it was still performing.”

“Right,” James said. “How’s it been flying?”

“Great, really,” Scorpius replied.

He seemed nervous to James. He wasn’t normally like this, he was normally much more brazen and outspoken. And Scorpius, he knew, prided himself on his broom care. A check up for the broom was a bit silly, but James indulged him. He had a feeling that when he’d left, Lily hadn’t stopped talking.

“It feels good,” James said. “Let me take it in back and see about the twigs and stuff.” James made his way to the back and laid the broom on the work table. Scorpius followed him, and by now James was used to it.

James went to the cabinet in the back of the room to get a few replacement twigs. Scorpius watched him go and looked around the room. It was dusty, that was for sure, but otherwise it was very neat and organized, two things he did not recall James being.

Scorpius watched as he replaced a few broken twigs in silence. “Well I think that’s it,” James said. “Do you need anything else?”

“Ah,” Scorpius said, and James thought he looked flustered. It was a shock to James, who was always the one feeling awkward in Scorpius’ presence.

It was now or never for Scorpius, or at least that was how he’d viewed it. The broom hadn’t needed anything done to it since Lily stopped harassing him, and he didn’t need help replacing twigs.

“Dinner,” Scorpius said, his brazenness returned. “With you, say tomorrow?”

It was James’ turn to be flustered.

“Um, yeah,” James said after a moment of almost too long silence. “Yeah, alright.” Scorpius felt back on level ground now that he was in control of his emotions again, it also helped that James was again acting nervous around him. It was as it should be.

“Great, I’ll be at your house at seven,” Scorpius said. He grabbed his broom off the table and left James sitting in his workshop. James didn’t move for a good fifteen minutes.

* * *

By five the next evening James had again began to wonder how it was Scorpius knew where he lived. It wasn’t public knowledge, and really only his family knew where his house was. He had had ex-boyfriends, sure, but most of the time James avoided his own house and stayed at theirs. It had to be someone he knew. He wondered for a moment if it was Al, but then after what Lily had said Al probably would have refused to tell him out of spite. It could have been Lily, she would be all for it based on her scheming, but even then it didn’t sit right with James.

By the time Scorpius got there it was all James could think about.

James answered the door and smiled. Scorpius looked good, and it wasn’t as though he just looked like trash the previous times James had met with him. It was obvious that he took a bit more care in his appearance that evening. But James could only focus on that so long.

“How do you know where I live?” he asked, and Scorpius frowned.

“ _That’s_ the first thing you have to say to me?” Scorpius asked. It was almost as if asking James out on a date changed nothing.

“You look very nice,” James said, grinning. “But really, it’s been bugging me for hours.”

“You have nothing better to do than think about me, that’s sweet,” Scorpius said. James fought very hard not to roll his eyes.

“Well,” James said, though he was loath to admit it. “I have been thinking about you quite a bit since yesterday. But mostly just about how I might not want to go out with you because I think you’re stalking me.”

“Right, _I’m_ stalking _you_. Not you coming to my games and watching me while your sister tries to kill me,” Scorpius said.

“That makes Lily sound like the stalker, not me,” James said. “She’s got season tickets. Now I think we’re going to be late.”

Scorpius did not stop himself from rolling his eyes, but he held out his arm for James to take.

They arrived at a quiet restaurant that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. “Okay,” James said. “First you stalk me, have been doing since you were 11, now you take me to a remote place with no one else around. I don’t like where this is going.”

“Oh shut up,” Scorpius said, leading their way into the restaurant. “Malfoy, for two.”

“Right this way,” the hostess said and the two men followed her. James noted other couples in the dining room and decided that if Scorpius were trying to murder him, he would not have chosen a restaurant with other patrons.

“Really though, who told you?” James asked as they sat across from each other. James couldn’t think of any of his exes that would tell Scorpius where he lived. Most of them actually didn’t know, and some of them didn’t even live on the same continent.

“Is that all you’re going to talk about all night?” Scorpius asked. “Really? I asked you out, James, and it wasn’t to talk about how I came across your address.”

“Was it Arnold? William?” James asked, naming some of their mutual friends from Hogwarts, not that he really kept in touch.

“Merlin, James,” Scorpius said, exasperated. “It was Teddy, my cousin, your godbrother. I needed to get ahold of you in a hurry, you weren’t at your shop, I asked the one person that I knew would know that was not one of your siblings.”

“Why not Al?” James asked. The two of them had been friendly enough.

“Your brother is the youngest Unspeakable in recorded history, do you really think he would have told me where you lived?” Scorpius asked.

“No, he doesn’t like you anyway,” James said, shrugging. That was a lie, and Scorpius knew it.

“Also, your sister has the biggest mouth on her I’ve ever seen,” Scorpius said. “I couldn’t discreetly ask her anything without you hearing about it two seconds later.”

“That’s harsh,” James said, though he couldn’t deny it wasn’t true.

“She tried to kill me,” Scorpius said.

Their waiter interrupted then, asking what they’d like to drink.

“Water,” Scorpius said.

“I’ll have a Guinness,” James said.

“Dark beer is disgusting,” Scorpius said. James stared at him.

“You’ve never had a Guinness, have you?” he asked.

“I have so had one,” Scorpius said. “It was disgusting.”

“When, when you were fourteen?” James asked. “You’re drinking water when there’s Guinness on tap.”

“There’s nothing wrong with water. And I’ve found it’s dangerous to drink with Potters,” Scorpius said.

“Me and Lily are _nothing_ ,” James said, shaking his head. “Just wait until you get Al in. And Rose, damn if she doesn’t look like anything, but don’t ever get into a drinking contest with her.”

“I am never drinking with your family again,” Scorpius said. “Never.”

“Oh, come on, Scor,” James said, grinning. “You’ll have to, we always go out after dinner at Gran’s.”

Scorpius blushed. It wasn’t just the grinning, it was also the nickname and the fact that James wanted him to go to his family dinner. He had suspected it would be like this. James had always been quite open when they were younger, and he had always been welcoming. Even on the days when he had really come down hard on Scorpius with his teasing, he still tried to include him in conversation at the dinner table. After he thought about it, he knew exactly why Al might have been jealous.

Their waiter came back then and Scorpius was spared having to say anything in response to James. They ordered their meals and then sat in silence for a moment.

“I can’t believe Teddy told you, Merlin, some godbrother he is,” James said, shaking his head. “He knows how I feel about you, he should have been the last person to give you my address.”

“How you feel about me?” Scorpius asked, raising an eyebrow. It was James’ turn to redden, but it was mostly his ears. He was lucky his complexion didn’t allow for total embarrassment like Scorpius’.

“Alright, well I may have complained quite a bit about you to the one person who always listened to my shit no matter what,” James said. “That was, of course, when I was fifteen, but still. He should have remembered you were my school nemesis.”

“Nemesis?” Scorpius asked again, and James wondered why he’d agreed to this.

“You took the piss out of me constantly, even when you were a first year for god’s sake,” James said. “How could I think of you as anything but?”

“That was partly my father’s fault,” Scorpius said, and it made James laugh.

“Draco Malfoy wanted to tear down the thirteen year old son of Harry Potter,” James said through the laughter. “I can’t wait to tell my dad.”

“He didn’t mean it like that,” Scorpius said, though he was laughing too. “I had told him about you, you made me nervous. You were loud and obnoxious and you made fun of so many people, seventh years, even! He told me the best way to be confident was to give you a taste of your own medicine.”

Their waiter brought their food then. “What did he say when you and Al got stuck being Potions partners?” James asked.

“He told me I’d be luckiest if he was like your aunt Hermione, but don’t hold my breath,” Scorpius said, and he and James both started laughing again.

They ate in silence for a moment. “You didn’t like me at first, did you?” James asked. “I mean, you said I was obnoxious. But you didn’t ever really talk to me, and you didn’t really start ribbing me until after a few weeks, must have been your dad’s letter. But you didn’t like me.”

Scorpius looked at him. “I didn’t,” he said after a while. “I was kind of jealous of you, to be honest. You had your friends, everyone seemed to like you, you were brave. It was ridiculous, you know, me being put into Gryffindor. My father cracked jokes every time I came home. You never made fun of me for it, though. You made me feel better about it, actually.”

James smiled. “I thought you’d feel like Al,” he said. “I’d messed with him pretty bad, we all knew he’d be in Slytherin, and he was pretty upset about it. He felt like he was disappointing everyone, and I don’t know, Gryffindor isn’t a disappointment, but maybe you’d feel like it was.”

“Oh,” Scorpius said. He was surprised that James had thought of him at all. “I never felt that way. I mean, being the first in my family was a bit difficult to get over, but other than that it was okay. My father thought it was funny, my mother just wanted me to be happy.”

“From the letters of yours I read, I’ve always liked your mother,” James said and Scorpius frowned at him.

“I’m still upset about that,” Scorpius said. “Such an invasion of privacy.”

“Oh come on,” James said. “If you could have, you’d have read my letters too, I don’t doubt it. You tried to dig up every single piece of dirt on me you could.”

“You never got any letters!” Scorpius said. “I watched every time for Al’s stupid, violent owl and the only ones were for him and Lily. Occasionally for one of your cousins.”

“I didn’t use Al’s owl,” James said, and Scorpius had the urge to hit him, just to wipe that stupid grin off his face. “I knew you were looking, as soon as I’d read your first one, you were out for blood. But I never used Al’s owl, I’d be crazy to do that, you know. If there’s one person I didn’t want knowing all my business it was Albus, especially because it wouldn’t just be him. It would be all of Slytherin house.”

“Then whose owl was it?” Scorpius asked, still upset he’d let himself be fooled. He had only been eleven, but still, he was better than that.

“I can’t tell you that, I can’t trust that you won’t exact your revenge now, six years on,” James said. Scorpius almost hit him, but his mother raised him better.

“How would I ‘exact my revenge’ on someone now. Do you know where all your Hogwarts classmates are now?” Scorpius asked.

“I know where that one is, and so do you,” James said. “So I will not let you attack them viciously for something that happened years ago.”

“Why would I attack them?” Scorpius asked. It was ridiculous, if anyone would have attacked them it would have been James. He was the one who had gotten into physical fights at school. Scorpius always loved that because he got to tell everyone James lost badly. It was a small joy.

“I know you, Malfoy,” James said and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

“We were boys, then, James,” Scorpius reminded him. “I think we’ve both changed quite a bit from when we were in school.”

“You haven’t changed at all,” James said. “You’re still annoying as ever.” Scorpius would have been hurt if James had not been smiling like he was.

“At least I’m not an idiot,” Scorpius retorted.

“You _are_ on a date with your arch nemesis, that’s pretty dumb,” James replied.

“I never called you that!” Scorpius said.

“You so did, I’ll bet I can find someone who heard you say it at least once.”

“How would they remember, it was six years ago!” Scorpius said. The two were getting slightly louder than the restaurant’s average patron, but no one wanted to tell the the sons of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy to be quiet. “No one paid as much attention to me as you seem to think.”

“I did,” James said. His ears turned red, then, and it crept into his cheeks slowly. Scorpius looked at him, then smiled.

“Yes, I suppose you did, didn’t you?” he said after a moment. “You were _always_ paying attention to me in a way.” It was a strange sort of realization to have, and Scorpius wondered if James had, in a way, always liked him. “Is that why you were always so uncomfortable around me?”

James paused, unsure of what to say. Had he always had a crush on Scorpius, or had he just found an easy target? He didn’t even really know he was gay, not truly, until at least his fourth year. At least that’s the first time he told anyone. “No,” James said finally. “I mean, maybe, but also the fact that anything I said or did could be used against me, you were raised by snakes, Al was your Potions partner. It all stacked up against you, kid.”

“I was not raised by snakes,” Scorpius said. His parents were in Slytherin in school, but a lot had changed since they were in school.

Luckily their waiter was there asking them if they’d like dessert before James could respond.

“Yes, dessert,” James said, and it was Scorpius’ turn to turn red.

The waiter left and the look on Scorpius’ face dared James to say something. James always took a dare.

“It’s good to see you still have a sweet tooth,” James said. “I-”

“If you say one more word, Potter, I will end this date and any further contact with you immediately,” Scorpius said.

James took it as another dare.

“I was going to say,” James said, grinning. “You still look quite good for the amount of sweets you inhale.”

Scorpius was flattered, but also annoyed.

“You’ve put on a few pounds, must be all that nothing you do at your store,” Scorpius snapped back. James laughed.

“Quite a whole lot of nothing now that _you_ fly one of my brooms,” James replied. “You’re the least popular National team member, you do know that, right?” In all honesty, that was the opposite of the truth and James knew it. Not only was Scorpius good looking enough to be on the front pages of Quidditch magazines, he was also the Seeker, and they tended to have the most fans.

“Right, blame me for your poor business,” Scorpius said, shaking his head. “Because you never could deal with your failure on your own.”

“Hey, I failed History of Magic with grace,” James snapped. Scorpius laughed then, and James laughed with him.

The waiter brought their dessert, but Scorpius sat and waited for James to take his first bite. He would not be made fun of for being too enthusiastic with his sweets. James spared him and took quite a large spoonful.

“I see your table manners have only slightly improved,” Scorpius said, taking a normal-sized spoonful of his own dessert.

“Oh, I’ve gotten much better, I think,” James said, his mouth full. Scorpius made a face as James grinned with chocolate covering his front teeth.

“This was nice, but I don’t think I’ll want to do it ever again,” Scorpius said.

“Your face’ll get stuck like that, you know,” James said after he swallowed.

“If you hex my face like this I will kill you,” Scorpius said, and James knew that he meant it. There had been an unfortunate incident while they were both at school together and James knew that Scorpius would always hold it against him.

“I won’t, I promise,” James said, holding up both hands, one still holding his spoon.

“Good,” Scorpius said, and he continued eating in silence.

When the waiter came back with their check, James moved to pay. “ _I_ asked _you_ out,” Scorpius said when he noticed.

“Oh,” James said. It hadn’t actually, truly hit him that Scorpius had asked him out until that moment. He grinned. “Right.”

After Scorpius paid they stood and left the establishment. James, at that moment, was starting to think that his sister might be a little bit right. He also felt very strange about the situation all of a sudden, now that they were out in the night.

“Do I apparate you home or do you apparate me?” James asked, and Scorpius laughed.

“I think that may also be my job, tonight,” Scorpius replied. It was funny to see James nervous like this, he was always awkward, but this was different. He held out his arm and James took it. They were at James’ front door, then, and James was acting even more nervous.

“James,” Scorpius said, smiling lightly. James looked at him and just shook his head.

“I’m being a spaz,” James replied.

“If I’d known you’d liked me this much I might have asked you out sooner,” Scorpius said.

“You wouldn’t,” James said with a smirk.

“I’m a lot more confident than you think, you know,” Scorpius said.

“I don’t believe you,” James replied, and Scorpius noticed that he seemed to have his normal brazenness back.

“Well I’ll have to prove it to you, then,” Scorpius said, so nonchalant. Before James could say anything Scorpius leaned in and kissed him.

It was completely unexpected, but that wasn’t to say that James didn’t like it. Scorpius reached up and gently grabbed the back of James’ neck, pulling him closer still. It felt like a long time before they came up for air. Scorpius’ face was flushed, and it made James smile.

“So you are,” James said quietly. They were standing so close together that Scorpius could feel the warmth coming from him.

The silence stretched on as the two men stared at each other. James knew that he could invite Scorpius in, they were literally right in front of his home, but something in him stopped him from asking. He also didn’t want to be too forward, though maybe Scorpius wouldn’t mind. He was about to force himself to ask when Scorpius stepped away, the moment lost.

“I had a lovely time,” Scorpius said, though there was something in his voice that sounded disappointed.

“You hate the word lovely,” James replied, though he was smiling.

“Only because you used to say it in that _tone,_ ” Scorpius snapped back, though there was no bite to it. “It was anything _but_ lovely when you said it like that.”

“I have no idea what tone you’re talking about,” James said. “But I had a lovely time as well, Scorpius.”

“It’s nice when you say it like that,” Scorpius said.

“Then I’ll say it like that all the time,” James said. “Good night, Scorpius.” Scorpius smiled at him and then with a pop he was gone.

James felt like an idiot. “Why couldn’t I have just asked him?” he said to himself as he entered his house. It was dark in the living room and he pulled out his wand to start a fire. “Stupid,” James said to himself as he fell onto the couch.

* * *

James woke up the next day feeling groggy. He had fallen asleep on the couch, and that meant he hadn’t even bothered to think about changing his clothes. There was an angry looking owl pecking on his window. “Who’re you?” James asked as he opened the window for the bird. He gently removed the parchment that was tied to the bird’s leg, narrowly missing a peck.

“Maybe if you’d knocked a bit louder I would have answered sooner,” he snapped at the bird. It stared at him.

He unrolled the parchment and started when he saw what was inside. It was a note from Astoria Malfoy inviting him for brunch the following Sunday. “No wonder you’re angry,” he finally said to the bird. “You have to put up with Draco Malfoy.” There was no mention of Scorpius in the letter, and James wondered whether or not he knew about the invitation. There was no mention of Draco, either, however. Had Astoria been anything like his own mum, this would have been no problem for James. As it was, having read some of her letters from years ago, he found the prospect of having a solo meal with her intimidating, no matter how much he thought he might like her.

He penned a quick reply that he would be delighted to have brunch with Mrs. Malfoy and reattached it to the bird’s leg, getting a bit of a nasty gash from its beak as he did so. Before James could do anything about it, however, the bird was gone.

“Damn owls, damn Malfoys,” James muttered as he slammed the window closed again. He was unsure of what he had just gotten himself into, and he wanted to not think about it, so he laid down and fell back asleep.

* * *

It was mid-afternoon then, and there was another tapping at his window. Another owl, though this one seemed much less upset. Probably because he’d already been awake when it knocked.

“Alright,” James said, opening the window. The bird hopped in and waited patiently for James to remove the parchment. This time, a note from Scorpius asking him for dinner the upcoming Saturday. It was going to be a very Malfoy weekend, apparently.

James didn’t know if he was looking forward to it or not.

* * *

Saturday rolled around and James was fidgeting before Scorpius showed up. He had been thinking about this all week, if he was being honest. He felt as though he had to make something up to Scorpius, but he wasn’t sure what. He ran his hand through his hair and tried not to think about the next morning.

There was a knock on the door, and he knew it would be him. Really, any of his family members would never have knocked. He opened the door and grinned. “Hello,” he said. Scorpius smiled back at him. “You look lovely, you know.”

Scorpius could not keep himself from rolling his eyes, but the gesture had lost its ire as his cheeks turned pink. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” Scorpius conceded. “Shall we?” He held out his arm for James to take. James did, and they were off.

“I’m beginning to feel that I’m the inadequate half of this partnership,” James said after they found their seats in the pub. Scorpius had mentioned in his note that this was not to be as formal as their previous date, but that didn’t mean that James could look like a slob when he came to pick him up.

“Oh?” Scorpius asked, tilting his head to the side.

“This is our second date, and I’ve asked for neither of them,” James said.

“I do feel a bit like I’m the only one interested,” Scorpius teased. “Your immediate response to both of my inquiries really put me off.”

James laughed. “I guess that could imply that I am in no way interested in pursuing this,” he said. “But, really, I am.” He had a moment where he thought to mention the brunch that he had been invited to, but he decided that it would be best not to for some reason.

“I know, James,” Scorpius said. “If you weren’t interested I don’t think you would have said yes.”

“Say I just wanted to see what you were all about?” James asked, leaning back in his seat. He was back to that easy confidence and Scorpius wondered how he always seemed to make that switch. It came so naturally to James, to just be so self-assured and assertive, but there were those times in front of Scorpius that he seemed so uptight and nervous about everything.

“You’ve known me since I was eleven,” Scorpius reminded him.

“But I didn’t know you were gay, or that you couldn’t hold your tequila, or that you’d use my family to stalk me,” James replied.

“Technically,” Scorpius stated, so matter-of-fact. “Teddy’s my family, not yours.”

“Marriage counts,” James said, defending his earlier statement.

“I guess,” Scorpius said, though his tone said anything but.

The waiter came over to take their drink orders and James ordered a water.

“No Guinness tonight?” Scorpius asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I thought I’d try things your way,” James said. “Though if you prefer me to have some amount of alcohol in me, then I’ll go ahead and order that beer.”

“Well,” Scorpius said slowly. “You are a bit more entertaining when you’ve had something to drink. I happen to recall a night where you’d had quite too much while you were out in Hogsmeade and made a right ass of yourself sneaking back into the castle.”

“You’d prefer I was a right ass?” James asked, smirking at Scorpius.

“Maybe,” Scorpius said. He was being coy and James thought he might kind of like it.

“Well I can make an ass of myself anywhere,” James said. “If you want, I can do it right here.”

“I’ve seen you make an ass of yourself far too many times,” Scorpius said. “I’d rather not see it in a situation where you’re tied to me.”

“So you don’t want to be tied to me?” James asked. Scorpius couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, but luckily he didn’t have to decide as the waiter came to take their order.

After he’d left he looked James over again.

“Don’t do that,” James said, frowning.

“Don’t do what?” Scorpius asked, surprised.

“It’s like you’re trying to read my mind. I can tell you that there isn’t anything of interest to you in there,” James said.

“Nothing of interest to me?” Scorpius asked, and James knew he was going to get it now. “I think there are a lot of things in your mind that would be of interest to me.”

“Like what?” James asked, because he had opened the can of worms and he might as well start digging around in it.

“For one,” Scorpius said, and James groaned. He should have known Scorpius would have a list. He’d probably thinking of things like this for years. He had always tried to get one step ahead of any of James’ plans and get inside his head in any way he could. Thank Merlin he’d never found any of James’ letters. “Why would you ever think that I would charm my own broom? And another thing, why would you leave your failing History of Magic grades out for me to just find? I honestly felt like you were tricking me.”

“I didn’t just leave them out!” James said. “The were in a folder under my mattress.”

“You never were good at hiding things,” Scorpius replied.

“No one else was looking under my mattress!” James exclaimed. It was as though it was his own fault that Scorpius had found his grades.

“Alright, fine, I was specifically looking under your mattress,” Scorpius said with a shrug. “That still doesn’t answer why you think I’d charm my own broom.”

“You made any excuse to come by during the process, I just figured now that you weren’t getting your bi-weekly James Potter torture session in, so-”

“Torture session?” Scorpius asked. “You make me sound so awful.”

“Well,” James said slowly, shrugging as he did. “Maybe that wasn’t your intention, but that’s how I felt. You stare, you know. That’s impolite, I figured someone with your breeding would have grown out of that by adulthood at least.”

“I like to watch you squirm,” Scorpius said, and something in his eyes changed. He gave a wolfish grin and James felt a blush creep up his neck. “I’ve often wondered if you’ve squirmed like that in other situations.”

James’ mouth opened to say something, but their waiter placed their food in front of them. James could feel the heat in his cheeks as he looked down to his plate. One thing was quite certain, Scorpius was definitely bolder than James had ever thought he was.

“Another thing that would interest me to know,” Scorpius started as he cut into his fish. “Is when’s the first time you thought of me as more than a torment to you. If you act like this and we haven’t seen each other in years, really, it makes me wonder how long you’d been thinking of me.”

James thought about the question as he took a bite of his meal. He could be honest, which is definitely what Scorpius wanted, but he could also lie to make himself sound a little less like a lurking weirdo. “Um,” James said, looking towards the ceiling. “Honestly?”

Before he could say anything Scorpius interjected with a sarcastic, “Of course, honestly.”

“Fine,” James said firmly. “Honestly, I first thought of you as more than a pain in the ass when we came back your fifth year.” Scorpius had definitely filled out that summer, and James had noticed.

“So you’ve just been fantasizing about me since I was fifteen?” Scorpius asked.

“Merlin, no!” James yelped. “I wasn’t _fantasizing_ about you. Christ, I just thought you looked less like the bratty beanpole you’d been before then.”

“I was not bratty,” Scorpius said haughtily, and James rolled his eyes. “But seriously, you’ve been thinking about me sexually for seven years now?”

“I haven’t been just sitting there in the shop thinking about what you’d look like naked for seven years. How pathetic do you think I am, Malfoy?” James asked. “And you know what,” he said, finally feeling quite done with being the only one scrutinized. “You’ve probably been thinking about _me_ sexually for quite a bit longer than that, if I had to guess.”

James’ small outburst didn’t take Scorpius by surprise, though his words were a bit unexpected. If _he_ were being honest, he would have to say that, yes, he had thought about James sexually before his fifth year. “Hardly,” Scorpius replied, his tone completely void of any emotion, he sounded almost bored. It had been his defense mechanism for as long as James could remember, and he grinned then.

“You have, haven’t you?” James marvelled. “How long then? I’d also wager it’s been at least seven years for you as well.”

“I have not been pining for you for seven years, Potter,” Scorpius snapped. He didn’t think he liked when the tables were turned, but at least he had enough self control that he wouldn’t start fidgeting.

“Right well, let’s see,” James said, and Scorpius could tell he was truly thinking about it. “You’re Al’s age, so two years younger. And if I started fantasizing about other blokes when I was say, thirteen or so, assuming you’re not delayed, at least physically, you’ve been thinking about me naked for eight or nine years or so.”

Scorpius cheeks burned. “I have _not_ been thinking about you for nine years,” he said, and he wondered how James could do this. Every time Scorpius had a leg up, James came and pushed him down.

“You have,” James said, and he was the one grinning then. Scorpius looked at him, and then wished he hadn’t. The look on James’ face was what Scorpius could only describe as lecherous. “Maybe not nine years straight, but definitely nine years of imagining what it’d be like to-”

“Shut _up_ ,” Scorpius whined. “Honestly, Potter, we can’t even have a polite conversation out in public.”

“You haven’t changed one bit, you know,” James said, still grinning, though not quite as lewdly.

“I have so,” Scorpius replied petulantly. James raised an eyebrow, as if suggesting that kind of response proved his point. “Oh shut up,” Scorpius snapped again.

“See, you haven’t,” James said again.

Scorpius sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. “You haven’t either. You just love taking the piss out of me any chance you get,” he said.

“Oh sod off,” James said, laughing. “You start it every time and then play the victim.”

“I do not play,” Scorpius said. “You viciously attack me. I _am_ the victim.”

“Right,” James said, drawing the word out. “Completely true, you’re right. But I’m right in that you’re the one who’s been fantasizing about this longer.”

“Oh so what?” Scorpius finally snapped. “It’s a good thing you weren’t thinking about me nine years ago, I was twelve, remember?”

“Definitely wouldn’t have thought of you like that,” James said, shaking his head. “Wouldn’t want a spotty brat who wouldn’t ever shut up.”

“I was not spotty!” Scorpius snapped. “Malfoys have perfect skin.”

“Right, perfect,” James said. “I mean, it’s definitely cleared up. And you’ve also grown up a lot from when you were fifteen.”

Scorpius looked up at James then, and the lewd looks had grown quite a bit less embarrassing. “You’ve grown up from fifteen as well,” Scorpius said.

“I would hope so,” James replied, but there was none of the competitive bite that would normally accompany the comment.

The waiter came and gave them their check, then.

“No dessert?” James asked, and Scorpius scowled at him before pulling out his money.

“I can think of something for dessert, if you’d really like,” Scorpius said finally, looking at James. It was as much of a challenge as a proposition.

“Oh yeah?” James asked, and he could feel his heart rate pick up despite trying to be casual.

“Yes,” Scorpius said firmly. He stood then and James followed. Once they were outside Scorpius held his arm out for James once more. They were in front of James’ house in a moment. “You’ll invite me in this time, won’t you?” Scorpius asked, though to James it sounded a bit more bossy than that.

“No, I’ll make us stay outside, it’ll be much more comfortable that way,” James said, again with the sarcasm. Scorpius wanted to hex him very badly at that moment, but then he opened the door and gestured for Scorpius to enter. Scorpius walked into the house, then immediately turned to James’ bedroom.

“You’re an eager one,” James said, closing the front door and following him. Scorpius had the decency to blush at that, but he just shrugged. The room was as empty as he remembered it, and he wondered why he never recalled James being so neat.

“I figured if you couldn’t make a move in seven years, I must have to be the one to start things,” Scorpius finally said. James had followed him into the bedroom but he still really wasn’t making a move to start anything between them. “Looks like I’m right.”

“So is that all you wanted, then?” James asked, amusement alight in his eyes. “Your childhood fantasies played out?”

“No,” Scorpius said pointedly, though there was still heat in his cheeks. “I wanted to get to know you.”

“Oh?” James asked, stepping closer. “You don’t think you know quite a bit about me already?”

Scorpius knew that James was referring to their school years, and he did know quite a bit about James from then. “I meant, about you now,” Scorpius said, letting out a very put upon huff.

“Well, I’m here now,” James said, taking another step. Scorpius realized then that they were very close. James held his arms out. “What do you want to know?”

“I,” Scorpius said, unsure of how to answer that.

“I, for one, would like to know just how much you’ve filled out these past few years,” James said, and that stupid wolfish grin was back on his face. Scorpius decided that he hated it, but mostly because he knew that he was turning quite an unflattering shade of red. And it wasn’t just his face, he knew, but he felt his neck getting warmer as well.

“Um,” Scorpius said, and he wondered just how it was James always managed to gain control of the conversation.

“Um?” James asked.

“You first,” Scorpius finally spat out, though the words almost tripped over themselves on his tongue.

“Alright then,” James said happily and he pulled his shirt over his head. Scorpius stared. It was when James unbuckled his belt that he realized, truly, what was happening. Though this had been what he wanted, it was very strange to think of it actually coming true. His thirteen year old self would have already come in his pants at least once, though he would never, ever share that thought with James.

“Wait,” Scorpius said as James was just about to push his trousers down around his ankles. James looked at him, and Scorpius made a mental note that he was cute when confused.

“Yeah?” James asked, his voice hushed as though they were sharing secrets with each other. Scorpius stepped closer to James, closing the gap between them. For all his nerve beforehand, Scorpius had definitely lost some of his bravado. He ran his fingers lightly down James’ chest, and James let his head fall back and let out a sigh. Scorpius smiled, feeling a little more in control of everything then. “Quidditch,” James said to the ceiling as Scorpius kept on with his tactile exploration.

“What about it?” Scorpius asked, his fingers trailing just under James’ waistband.

“Locker rooms,” James said, though it was taking him a bit of effort to concentrate. “I watched you dress, sometimes. I didn’t mean to but- Christ, Malfoy.” Scorpius had slid his hand down the front of James’ trousers, being quite more assertive than James had expected from the light touching up to that point.

“I used to watch you, too,” Scorpius admitted after a moment, still rubbing James through his boxers. James tilted his head down and Scorpius could see the desire in those bright brown eyes. He pushed forward to kiss James, then, their mouths meeting almost frantically. James reached up and grabbed the front of Scorpius’ shirt, his other hand reaching for the nape of Scorpius’ neck.

Scorpius wasn’t quite sure how James had maneuvered it, but suddenly they were on the bed, James underneath him. He also noted that his hand hadn’t fallen out of James’ pants. James’ hands had slid under Scorpius’ shirt, trailing along his bare skin, making him groan.

“If we were both staring at each other in the locker room,” Scorpius panted. “Why’d it take us this long to get here?”

James was mouthing at his neck, so Scorpius wasn’t so offended when it took him a while to answer. “Do you really want to talk about that now?” James asked, and as though to make his point, he started to undo Scorpius’ trousers as well.

“Yes,” Scorpius said, trying to sound insistent but he couldn’t muster the correct amount of force. It sounded, actually, quite a bit dirtier than he’d hoped.

James rolled his eyes and Scorpius had only a split second to be offended before he was flipped onto his back. James started to pull Scorpius’ shirt over his head but was having some trouble. “Come on, Potter,” Scorpius said, tugging it the rest of the way off. James seemed to have no trouble with his trousers, though, and Scorpius found himself feeling quite exposed when James helped him out of his pants as well. “It’s not fair, you still have your pants on.”

James laughed, and Scorpius smiled despite the fact that he was not laughing with James. “Alright,” James said, standing. “Though, you’re the one that stopped me in the first place.” James rid himself of trousers and pants in one go as Scorpius watched eagerly.

James looked even better naked than Scorpius had imagined. Though, granted, his fantasies were mostly of a teenaged James wearing nothing but a Gryffindor tie. He vaguely wondered if James had any lying around, but the thought was pushed out of his head as James started running his hands up Scorpius’ legs, massaging his thighs.

“That’s nice,” Scorpius murmured, watching as James hands slowly made their way to his groin. He had been half hard when they’d gotten into the bedroom, if he was being honest, but he was much past half at the moment. “You’re being a tease,” he said, sounding quite annoyed. Truly, James had been so close, but very clearly avoiding touching Scorpius’ very hard cock, or anything near it.

“Am not,” James said softly. He let his hands trail to Scorpius’ abdomen, then down, one beginning to lazily stroke his cock.

“So were,” Scorpius moaned, and James let out a light chuckle.

“I thought that even this might shut you up, but I guess not,” James said. Scorpius ignored him, deciding to focus on the sensation of James touching him.

“I would be quiet if you weren’t such a tease,” Scorpius said, throwing his arm over his eyes.

“I’m touching you, aren’t I!” James exclaimed, increasing the pressure of his strokes. It was just like Scorpius to be his same bratty self at a moment like this. Though if James were being honest, he really didn’t mind.

“We should send Lily a fruit basket,” Scorpius huffed. It was getting more difficult for him to concentrate on words. He did have the vague thought that it might not be the right time to be discussing that.

James laughed, though, and it made Scorpius smile.

“First let’s worry about other things,” James said, and Scorpius was surprised he wasn’t being scolded for talking so much again. He was also quite surprised when he felt James’ mouth on him.

“Merlin,” Scorpius said, pulling his arm from his eyes. It was something he didn’t want to miss. He watched as James’ head bobbed up and down and wondered briefly if he were dreaming.

“You’re staring again,” James said as he pulled off Scorpius’ dick. Scorpius decided he was not dreaming. In his dream, James would definitely not be allowed to talk so much.

“You look quite lovely,” Scorpius replied, shrugging. He wondered if this was a bad angle for him, and then made a face. He hadn’t ever cared what anyone else sucking his dick thought he looked like from that angle.

“You’re also thinking too much,” James said, grinning. “It’s a wonder, really, that you’ve had any sexual gratification from anyone but your own hand.”

“You know I could very easily just go home,” Scorpius said, scowling at James. James rolled his eyes and moved back up so he was kneeling over Scorpius.

“Right, but then you’d miss all the fun,” James said as he bent closer and kissed Scorpius. Scorpius kissed him back, wondering why they hadn’t started doing this in school. They’d been in the same house for Merlin’s sake.

“You know,” Scorpius said, pulling back from James. James resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. “We could have been doing this all along.”

“Right, ever since you were a young first year and I was a thirteen year old whose voice cracked constantly,” James replied.

“Well not _all_ along, then,” Scorpius said. “But-” James cut him off with a kiss.

“Shut up and enjoy it,” James said after breaking away and moving down to Scorpius’ neck.

“I bruise easily!” Scorpius warned as he felt James’ teeth against his skin. He could feel James’ sigh against his neck. “I’m not going to change who I am just because we’re having sex now.”

“We’re not even having sex yet,” James said, exasperated. “You’ve barely even touched me!”

It was probably the wrong thing for him to say, as suddenly he was flipped onto his back. For being as slight as he was, Scorpius had the strange sinewy muscles of a Quidditch player, and James would do well to not forget that.

“Let’s fix that, shall we?” Scorpius said, and James wasn’t sure he liked the mischievous look in his eyes.

* * *

Scorpius, for his part, had not shut up once during the entire time. He always had to have something to say to James, and James couldn’t say that it made the sex less interesting. He quite liked it, even.

“We could have been doing that forever ago!” Scorpius said, happy and sweaty.

“I don’t think it would have quite felt like _that_ back in school. I think we’ve both gotten a bit of practice since we were teens,” James replied, though he did mildly wonder if they could have just done that practicing with each other.

“Right,” Scorpius said, but James could tell he was already drifting off to sleep. He had always been quick to fall asleep, something that caused him a little bit of misery his first few weeks of school.

James watched Scorpius for a moment, truly surprised at all of this. He wondered if he could still be upset with Lily since her plan did sort of work out. She didn’t have to ruin the broom, though. James sat there thinking through it all as he drifted off to sleep next to Scorpius. Either way, he thought, it had had quite a nice outcome.

* * *

James woke abruptly in a cold sweat, sunlight streaming in through the windows. For a moment, he didn’t quite know where he was. “Oh,” he said softly as he noticed Scorpius next to him. There was something in him that broke open at the sight of Scorpius Malfoy in his bed. He grinned.

It was only when he caught sight of the clock on the wall that he realized he’d made a very grave mistake. “Fuck,” he said, a little too loudly.

“Mmf,” Scorpius grumbled into his pillow.

“I have to go,” James said, sounding far too urgent for such a pleasant morning.

“It’s Sunday,” Scorpius groaned into his pillow.

“I know, but I really have to go,” James said, jumping up and pulling clothes out of his closet.

“Where?” Scorpius asked, finally sitting up and looking at him.

“I have an appointment,” James said, sounding a bit strained. He didn’t like lying to Scorpius but he didn’t want to let him know that he’d accepted an invitation from his mother.

“With whom?” Scorpius asked, frowning. “It’s Sunday morning.”

“I really have to go, I’m late,” James said, running over to kiss Scorpius’ cheek. “I’m not normally like this morning after, love. Forgive me.” There was the pop, and James was gone.

Scorpius looked around the room, baffled.

“What?” he said to no one.

* * *

James was standing outside the door to Malfoy Manor, wondering how upset with him Scorpius would be. He knocked quickly, though, not wanting to be even more late than he was already.

“You’re late,” the houself that opened the door scolded.

“I’m so sorry,” James said.

“The missus will see you right away,” the elf said, holding out her hand. James took it and was immediately in a very large, very formal dining room. It took him a moment to find Astoria Malfoy at the large table.

“Ah James,” she said warmly, but he could tell her smile just barely touched her eyes.

“Hello Mrs. Malfoy. I’m so sorry I’m late,” James said, walking towards her. “There’s no excuse for it, I’m a terrible guest.” He was lucky that he at least had a bit of charm in him.

“Oh James,” Astoria said, the smile finally reaching her whole face. “Not a problem dear, I’m sure you’re just a fine guest, a bit of lateness never killed anyone.” He reached her and kissed her politely on the cheek. It occurred to him only in that moment that his hair was probably in a state and he hadn’t gotten the chance to shower. “Please, sit.”

James took the chair next to the one Astoria had been sitting in. The large room, the fact that the room was in Malfoy Manor, and that he had left the woman’s naked son in his bedroom only moments ago were making him a bit nervous. He ran a hand through his hair, even though he knew it would only make things worse.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve asked you here,” Astoria said pleasantly. James wondered if she ever sounded unpleasant.

“Just a bit,” James said as the houself from before poured him a cup of tea.

“Well,” Astoria started, though she didn’t finish her thought as someone came into the rom. “Oh, darling. I thought you’d be out this morning.”

As James knew that there were probably only two people Astoria Malfoy would call darling, and one of them certainly didn’t live here, he knew that it was Draco that just walked into the room. He froze. James had only ever seen Draco Malfoy from afar, and even then he had seemed intimidating. Though, James had only been sixteen or so at the time.

“No, the visit got cancelled so I thought I’d come home to work. I see you’ve got a guest,” Draco said, walking over and kissing his wife. “Do I need to be jealous you’re having young male guests over while I’m to be out?”

Astoria laughed and James could tell why Draco looked at her that way, in almost the same way his dad looked at his mum. The sound made him feel a little better about the situation. “No need to be jealous. Draco, this is James, Harry’s son,” she said, introducing the two. James stood to shake Draco’s outstretched hand.

“It’s nice to meet you,” James said, smiling. If it were anyone else, he would have definitely made a joke about how Draco didn’t need to be worried about his wife at all. He made a mental note of how Astoria introduced him, reminding himself that he used to make his introductions quite like that when he was in school, always mentioning his father’s name.

“You as well,” Draco said. James couldn’t read anything behind the man’s blank expression. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

“Oh, Draco,” Astoria said, giving her head a little shake. “I’ve invited James over to sit down and have a talk. We’ve never gotten to know the boy before.”

James felt like he was in some surreal caricature of the world he once knew.

“Did you invite James over because what’s been going on with Scorpius?” Draco asked. James ears burned hot at the mention of Scorpius’ name. It was good that Draco and Astoria didn’t seem to be paying attention to him.

“Well I wanted to see what he thought of it all, you know, it was-,” Astoria started.

“James, while I think my wife is perfectly well-intentioned, I don’t know how wise her actions were,” Draco said, cutting Astoria off mid-sentence. It was something his father never would have done to his mother, but Ginny hadn’t ever done anything quite like this.

“It was Lily,” James said, shrugging.

“Excuse me?” Draco said, while Astoria looked a bit scandalized.

“Well, she got it in her head that I needed more friends, or something of the sort. And she’d thought that if Scorpius had to keep coming back to the shop to get the broom fixed, then we would get on again, and then I wouldn’t be quite as lonely, I guess?” James said, though it sounded more like a question. “Honestly, she was quite upset that she’d hurt Scorpius, but she didn’t mean to. And I guess we do get on alright, so it did sort of work.”

“Oh dear,” Astoria said, shaking her head. “So sweet, that Lily.” James would have said something to that, but he didn’t feel like he was safe quite yet.

“You get on?” Draco asked. It was that same bored, unaffected tone that Scorpius took sometimes.

“A bit more than I think anyone thought we would,” James said. “I know that he probably complained quite a bit about me at school, and I didn’t quite like him all that much myself. Though he did tell me, Draco, that it was you who inspired him to take the piss out of me every chance he got. Which is how everyone at school found out I’d failed History of Magic.”

Draco’s blank mask slipped a little as he smiled. Astoria looked aghast that her son had even told one person about James’ misfortune, and that her husband had encouraged it.

“I do recall hearing about that,” Draco said.

“I do quite like him, though,” James replied. “Even despite that.” There must have been something in the way he said it, or the way his face looked as he did because Astoria’s eyes lit up like the sun.

“Well that’s just wonderful,” Astoria said. “We’ll have to have you two over for dinner some time.”

“Maybe just not quite yet,” Draco said, though he smiled at James as well.

“If the food is anything like this tea, I would eat here every night,” James replied, grinning. Astoria laughed again and James felt at home there.

“Well we do have such great help. Tilly does so well, even with all of my crazy demands,” Astoria said. “Well, James, I’m sorry to have pulled you away from your Sunday. Please, stay.”

“I think we’ve kept James for too long already,” Draco suggested, his hand on Astoria’s shoulder.

“You are right,” Astoria said, nodding. “Please, James, dear. It was so nice to meet with you. Don’t be a stranger.” She stood then, and James stood as well. Astoria leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“Thank you for the tea,” James said, smiling.

“Any time, darling,” Astoria said. He wondered how many times he could call Scorpius dear or darling before he started to get suspicious.

“I’ll walk mister out,” the house elf had appeared silently and seemingly out of nowhere.

“Thank you, Tilly,” Draco said. “It was good to see you, James.”

* * *

James apparated home before the door had even closed behind him. He didn’t think Scorpius was the type to wait around but he hoped that he would still be there.

“That was extremely rude of you,” Scorpius said from the couch. He didn’t look up at James as he spoke, instead flipping through a Quidditch magazine, almost ignoring James even though he’d spoken right to him. When he acted like this in school James had wanted to hex him, now it infuriated him the same amount, but hexing was definitely off the table.

“Your mother wanted to have brunch,” James replied. “I thought it would be rude to ignore her invitation.”

Scorpius dropped the magazine into his lap and stared at James. “You did _not_ have brunch with my mother,” he said, looking sort of horrified at the prospect.

“What was I supposed to say? No?” James asked. “Besides, she just wanted to vaguely threaten me if I tried to damage you with my brooms again. You know, something on the border between legal and illegal. I told her the truth, and she seemed happy. Your father was there, too.”

“You told my mother that you’d left me naked in your bed?” Scorpius asked, having gotten over the shock and back to his normal patronizing self.

“Right, and your father, don’t forget, he was there, too,” James replied.

“Well, at least now I don’t have to tell them,” Scorpius said with a shrug.

“They’ll be having us over for dinner, soon,” James said, going to sit next to Scorpius. “We’ll have to be on time then or I’m afraid she won’t just be threatening me.”

“You do need to work on your manners,” Scorpius said with a nod. “I’ll help.”

James leaned into Scorpius, feeling content. “Alright, though can we have breakfast first? I didn’t actually manage to eat anything,” he said.

“Afraid you might talk with your mouth full?” teased Scorpius.

“Something like that,” James said.

“We’ve got loads of time to work on your manners,” Scorpius said. “Now, to make up for leaving me, I’d like the full English brought to me on a silver platter.”

“I’m out of beans and silver platters,” James said, thinking about how little he actually had in his cupboards. “But I’ll buy if you want to go out.”

“Such a gentleman,” Scorpius said, and James grinned at the sarcasm.

“You’re such a brat,” James said, standing. “Now let’s go before I change my mind.”

Scorpius was smiling at James too fondly to respond in a negative way to that, but he made a mental note that he would get back at James for calling him a brat, some day. Though he had a feeling there would be a lot of those fond insults in the future, and he didn’t think he minded that a bit.


End file.
